DORSET.- An extraordinary assembly of imposing, monumental and identical figures by British Trinidadian artist, Zak Ové, will transform the historic gardens of The Sherborne this autumn.

Thirteen monumental figures – each over two metres high - The Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness (2016) will create a powerful encounter for visitors to the historic Georgian house.

Ové’s immediately impactful installation explores the strength and resilience of the African diaspora, with its title referring to Ralph Ellison’s landmark novel Invisible Man and Ben Jonson’s Jacobean court entertainment The Masque of Blackness, first performed in 1605.

The Sherborne presentation brings the figures together in a new formation, created specifically for the historic garden. The exhibition is co-curated by Liz Gilmore, CEO of The Sherborne, and Sir Robert Fry, former Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Sherborne House Trust 2018 (The Sherborne).

Sir Robert's involvement gives the presentation particular resonance. A former Commandant General Royal Marines and senior British military commander, he has spent much of his career weighing the meaning and consequences of deployment.

At The Sherborne, the language of formation is transformed: Ove's silent gathering becomes not an army preparing for conflict, but a peaceful force assembled in the service of visibility, dignity and shared humanity.

The arrival of the Invisible Army comes at a defining moment for the town. Sherborne has just been named Dorset Town of Culture 2027, recognising the strength of its creative community and its ambition to place culture at the heart of the town's future.

First shown as an assembly of forty figures in the courtyard of Somerset House during the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in 2016, The Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness is now travelling from the heart of London to the borderlands of Dorset and Somerset - creating a cultural bridge between Somerset House and Sherborne House, between metropolitan and rural audiences, and between an internationally recognised work and a town entering a new chapter of cultural confidence.





Liz Gilmore, CEO of The Sherborne, says: "The arrival of Zak Ové's extraordinary figures will be a defining moment for The Sherborne. They are visually breathtaking, but their power reaches far beyond their scale — together, they speak of visibility, resilience and belonging, asking us to consider who is represented within our cultural landscapes, and whose stories we choose to carry forward.

“To place these figures within the garden of an 18th-century house, in which the extraordinary mythological world painted by Sir James Thornhill spectacularly illuminates the stairwell, creates a compelling conversation between histories. The Sherborne exists to inspire curiosity, welcome new perspectives and connect our heritage with the most important ideas of the present.”

Sir Robert says "The figures arrive in formation and inevitably carry the visual language of an army. But the intriguing thing about them is their ambiguity: is it a force assembled for conquest or it is a peaceful deployment, a collective presence that asks us to look again at identity, power, visibility, and our responsibilities to one another? To see Zak Ove's figures gathered not as instruments of conflict but as an expression of shared humanity is provocative and powerful.

"The Sherborne was created to bring important art and important ideas into the life of this place. As Sherborne prepares to become Dorset Town of Culture 2027, this exhibition signals that ambition with extraordinary clarity."

For The Sherborne, the installation is more than an exhibition. It is a declaration of intent: that art of international significance belongs within the landscapes, communities and historic places of the regions.

Zak Ové was born in London in 1966 and is a British artist of Trinidadian heritage. Working across sculpture, film and photography, his practice explores identity, history, mythology, migration and the African diaspora. Ové draws upon African and Trinidadian traditions of masking and masquerade, particularly the cultural history of Caribbean Carnival, which he considers both a celebration and a form of resistance. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in major museum and private collections. Ové was the first Caribbean artist to have work permanently acquired for the British Museum’s African collection. In 2019, he curated the acclaimed Somerset House exhibition Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, which celebrated five decades of Black creativity in Britain and beyond.