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Tuesday, 29 September 2015
Announcing the 10th Annual Huntley Conference: “Mountain High: Archive Deep”
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
No Colour Bar Summer College 2015
...
Personal Insight: City of London's Culture Heritage and Libraries Developmental Team member Helena Boehm reflects back on the No Colour Bar Summer College, running in mid-July at LMA.
The
No Colour Bar Summer College invited GCSE and
A-Level students from schools across London to engage and interact with the NCB
project in a whole host of creative and academic ways. The week-long summer
school endeavoured to raise the students’ awareness of certain social,
political and historical issues explored in the NCB exhibition that they might
not encounter in their daily school lessons. It aimed to actively encourage
critical thought and debate around these issues, as well as provide an
opportunity to experiment with a rich variety of media and art forms.
The
students ranged from 14-18 years old and came possessing a varied background
and interest in art. The week began with an introduction by Maureen Roberts,
Senior Development Officer, to the No Colour Bar project and the Huntley
archives, as well as a tour of LMA and introductory talks by the different
departments. During these first sessions the students engaged directly with the
Huntley archival material and began to discuss the issues that it raised. The
introductions on the first day were followed by a whole day at the Guildhall
Art Gallery and immersion in the exhibition. Hazel Sawyers’ session asked the
students to think critically about the art work displayed and engage directly
with individual pieces. Next came a discussion with Michael McMillan, exhibition
curator, in which the students discussed and debated not only the exhibition
but a whole range of social and political issues that its content triggered. EricHuntley, one of the Founders of Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications also attended
this session to talk to the students. Thus they received first-hand information
about the archived events in the exhibition. This was an invaluable opportunity
for the students to challenge themselves and vocalise their opinions on crucial
issues concerning race, identity and the utilisation and display of black art.
The
students were then given the opportunity to engage with collections from two
other galleries, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery. At the
National Portrait Gallery, Evan Ifekoya, a free-lance museum facilitator,
provided a thought-provoking and stimulating tour based around paintings
depicting different races, as well as art produced by Black artists. This
enabled critical discussion amongst the group regarding the depiction of Black
people in art and the representation of art produced by Black artists on show
in cultural institutions. The afternoon’s visit to the National Gallery invited
the students to explore the art work on their own terms, sketch specific pieces
that appealed to them and to consider their personal opinions on the
Renaissance art displayed.
The
opportunity throughout the week to experiment with different art forms allowed
the students to consider and interact with the project not only academically
but creatively. Despite a varying interest in art and artistic confidence all
the students produced an impressive portfolio of work. A workshop on the
techniques of life drawing by artist, Tam Joseph was named as a particular
highlight and a unique opportunity. Muirah Olton ran a fabric workshop in which
the students created material flags on canvas, offering them the opportunity to
represent and explore their own identity and heritage. Even the summer school
facilitators took part in this, producing some incredibly interpretive representations
of flags! A favourite workshop of the students was held by Rudy Loewe at the
end of the week, in which the students produced zines on the subjects of Walter
Rodney, the Huntley archives and the political and social climate during the
1960’s – 1980’s.
The
last day of the summer school was celebrated with an exhibition of the
impressive art portfolios that the students had produced. The exhibition was
attended by FHALMA volunteers, LMA staff and NCB project staff and was a
fantastic way to end the week. It provided a platform for the students to
explain to others about the work they had been doing and what they had each got
out of their time at LMA and with the NCB project. The NCBBBA Summer College provided
a unique opportunity for the students to immerse themselves in a week of art,
culture and history and from all accounts was a huge success.
Friday, 4 September 2015
Personal Insight: The Day I Met the Bar
Personal Insight: Volunteer and writer Valentine Ogunba shares his introductory experience with the No Colour Bar team.
The Day I Met the Bar
Despite numerous efforts, I
can't be classed as someone who looks forward to Mondays. I'll be the first to
admit that 11:00am for most people constitutes a lie in; still I was struggling
to meet even this generous deadline. How 3 weeks can leave you out of practice!
I'd signed up to volunteer at No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960 –
1990, the exhibition taking place in the Guildhall Art Gallery. After
successfully navigating the labyrinth that is Bank station and a final direction
from a post-man I arrived.
I have to admit that before becoming involved with the exhibition I had no knowledge of Eric and Jessica Huntley, that however was about to change. I entered the meeting room and met the friendly and enthusiastic organisers. My adversity to Monday's disappeared into the background as we began. Our guide Katty Pearce (one of the curators) took us to the 'Intervention' pieces from the NCB (No Colour Bar) exhibition on display in the gallery. These had been inserted into the main gallery alongside pieces not involved in the exhibition.
I'd never seen this done before! The words of Colin Prescod, a trustee of Friends of the Huntley Archives at the London Metropolitan Archives (FHALMA) were embodied: He’d said NCB wasn’t just about showcasing Black British Art. It was about a struggle and way of thinking which people from different ethnicities and backgrounds had supported. It was new heritage at the site of old heritage and a statement for everyone to take ownership of.
I felt the somber sensation that always comes over me when faced with art of a profound nature. It caused me to consider the circumstances that birthed the work, the emotions of the individual and the contrast between the world then and now.
It would be too early to call them my favourite pieces but at first viewing they stood out: First was Tam Joseph’s – Monkey Dey Chop, Baboon Dey Cry. I though it was great even before I read the title, which sounds like one that the late Nigerian musician Mr. Fela Kuti would have approved of. It’s full of symbolism; to me it represents different groups of people all with their own agendas. There’s the 80’s Mercedes, the clergyman, the African man in military attire, the woman with her child as she farms and more.
Second was Sonia Boyce’s – She Ain’t Holding Them Up, She’s Holding On (Some English Rose). This piece for me was bittersweet, a beautiful woman holding a family high above her head. Family dynamics can be complicated at the best of times and the title adds more intrigue. You can think that something or someone is taking all of your energy when actually it’s what is keeping you going.
Michael McMillan told us about recreating the Walter Rodney bookshop through life-size pictures and real books. Michael also told me the picture on the NCB flyer was Walter Rodney from his funeral, which had turned into a demonstration following his assassination.
As I was leaving Michael Ohajuru, the exhibition’s Evaluation Consultant, introduced me to Keith Whaite, a renowned flautist who due to play at the opening of the exhibition. Then as we stepped into the sunshine Michael said, ‘Would you like to meet Eric Huntley?
A moment later I shook hands with a peaceful looking man with a brilliant head of pure white hair and a matching beard. He was friendly and laughed heartily at my name.
I walked away excited, feeling privileged at all I’d discovered but knowing that there was much more to learn. As Mondays go, this was definitely one of the better ones.
Do you think you have something to offer No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action? Volunteering Opportunities include: events, project co-ordination, business administration, research, evaluation, marketing and communications, social media, public relations, arts & heritage ambassadors, gallery guides, workshops, programme support, operations, film making, artistic performances and a host of other engaging experiences.
The Day I Met the Bar
I have to admit that before becoming involved with the exhibition I had no knowledge of Eric and Jessica Huntley, that however was about to change. I entered the meeting room and met the friendly and enthusiastic organisers. My adversity to Monday's disappeared into the background as we began. Our guide Katty Pearce (one of the curators) took us to the 'Intervention' pieces from the NCB (No Colour Bar) exhibition on display in the gallery. These had been inserted into the main gallery alongside pieces not involved in the exhibition.
I'd never seen this done before! The words of Colin Prescod, a trustee of Friends of the Huntley Archives at the London Metropolitan Archives (FHALMA) were embodied: He’d said NCB wasn’t just about showcasing Black British Art. It was about a struggle and way of thinking which people from different ethnicities and backgrounds had supported. It was new heritage at the site of old heritage and a statement for everyone to take ownership of.
I felt the somber sensation that always comes over me when faced with art of a profound nature. It caused me to consider the circumstances that birthed the work, the emotions of the individual and the contrast between the world then and now.
It would be too early to call them my favourite pieces but at first viewing they stood out: First was Tam Joseph’s – Monkey Dey Chop, Baboon Dey Cry. I though it was great even before I read the title, which sounds like one that the late Nigerian musician Mr. Fela Kuti would have approved of. It’s full of symbolism; to me it represents different groups of people all with their own agendas. There’s the 80’s Mercedes, the clergyman, the African man in military attire, the woman with her child as she farms and more.
Second was Sonia Boyce’s – She Ain’t Holding Them Up, She’s Holding On (Some English Rose). This piece for me was bittersweet, a beautiful woman holding a family high above her head. Family dynamics can be complicated at the best of times and the title adds more intrigue. You can think that something or someone is taking all of your energy when actually it’s what is keeping you going.
Michael McMillan told us about recreating the Walter Rodney bookshop through life-size pictures and real books. Michael also told me the picture on the NCB flyer was Walter Rodney from his funeral, which had turned into a demonstration following his assassination.
As I was leaving Michael Ohajuru, the exhibition’s Evaluation Consultant, introduced me to Keith Whaite, a renowned flautist who due to play at the opening of the exhibition. Then as we stepped into the sunshine Michael said, ‘Would you like to meet Eric Huntley?
A moment later I shook hands with a peaceful looking man with a brilliant head of pure white hair and a matching beard. He was friendly and laughed heartily at my name.
I walked away excited, feeling privileged at all I’d discovered but knowing that there was much more to learn. As Mondays go, this was definitely one of the better ones.
Do you think you have something to offer No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action? Volunteering Opportunities include: events, project co-ordination, business administration, research, evaluation, marketing and communications, social media, public relations, arts & heritage ambassadors, gallery guides, workshops, programme support, operations, film making, artistic performances and a host of other engaging experiences.
Contact: Patricia Berdugo - nocolourbar.ambasscoordinator@gmail.com
Monday, 24 August 2015
Personal Insight from Curator Michael McMillan
...
Personal Insight: Dr Michael McMillan reflects on his role in curating the Walter Rodney Bookshop, a key facet of the exhibition. McMillan is a writer, playwright, fine artist and curator of Caribbean heritage and his work often explores migrant narratives and identity. Previous installations such as The West Indian Front Room (2005 – 06), The Living Room of Migrants in the Netherlands (2007 – 2008) and A Living Room Surrounded by Salt (2008) consider the domestic manifestations of race, aesthetic and identity within a physical environment, reanimating the artefacts and experiences housed within them. As a second generation Caribbean migrant descendent, born and educated in the UK. I, like many of my peers, was searching for an identity in the culturally and politically charged environment of British society and the African diaspora. We were here to stay and many, including myself, would eventually affirm being Black British, amongst other identities. Personally, part of this journey was searching out spaces where black arts and culture (theatre, literature, music, dance, poetry, and film) were being creatively expressed. Amongst the places that I often visited were bookshops in London such as New Beacon, Grassroots, Headstart, Soma, Centerprise, Sabarr and the Walter Rodney Bookshop. It was a space where I lost myself discovering books that reflected my experience in the diaspora and where I met others of a similar mind-set and spirit. I also remember Jessica and Eric Huntley as committed stalwarts of the cultural revolution taking place at that moment. Therefore, when Colin Prescod and Margaret Andrews approached me from FHALMA to recreate the Walter Rodney Bookshop installation, I relished the opportunity to revisit a seminal moment in my life.
An intensive research process soon began. I immersed myself in the Huntley Archive at London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), meticulously collected by Jessica and Eric themselves. The experience has been one of discovery, rediscovery and revelation. This informed the construction of a narrative, which will be communicated through the interactive and multi-media material culture of the Walter Rodney Bookshop. This has also affirmed the intrinsic importance of the archive in black diasporic histories, whose cultural and political experience has often been misrepresented.
Having curated The West Indian Front Room (Geffrye Museum 2005-06), I am interested in the aesthetics of the black diasporic domestic interior and popular culture of the 1970s. Like all good things, Bogle L’Ouverture Publications and the Bookshop began in Jessica and Eric Huntley’s front room. Though they eventually moved into commercial premises, the sense of home pervaded where writers, audiences, readers and the community engaged in a creative yet informal atmosphere. This was radical, this was revolutionary and this still has resonance today. Creativity is about responding to limitations and it has been a pleasure for me to consider, design, source materials and dress the installation.
Curating, like all creative practices, is collaborative and the process has been a team effort with FHALMA as commissioners, LMA providing source materials and the Guildhall Art Gallery housing No Colour Bar exhibition of which the installation is key element. As a free-lance practitioner, it is often a challenging working within different organisational cultures and operational structures, but it is as a learning experience, collaborating and working with practitioners from diverse specialisms.
One of my aspirations as curator is that visitors engage with the Huntley Archive, not as a collection of inanimate things, but a living force mediated by the spirit of Jessica and Eric Huntley. I hope that through their experience, visitors go home and look again at their collections of photographs, letters and documents in suitcases, boxes, lofts, and cupboards. They should also be curious and quiz their elders and begin to value them as living archives as part of the rich tapestry of the black British and diasporic experience.
© Michael McMillan – June 2015
http://huntleysonline.com/book-shop-memories-much-more-than-books/
Friday, 14 August 2015
Asquith Xavier and the Euston Colour Bar
Reanimating History: Jean Joseph, a visual artist and art facilitator, looks back to the Euston Colour Bar and the first Black guard, Asquith Xavier, who helped overcome it.
Passengers, using the plethora of rail services that traverse London on a daily basis, naturally take one thing for granted. That is, the members of rail staff they encounter, drawn from a wide demography of the multicultural landscape. Further, those commuting to and from Euston Station are unlikely to know, or remember, a landmark victory won in 1966.
The 16th of July this year will mark 49 years of a cause célèbre and momentous uplifting - though not of the World Cup and the roar of a full capacity crowd at the old Wembley Stadium - that still resonates today. It was of another victory, won by Asquith Xavier, a Dominican passenger guard and accidental hero campaigner who help topple a colour bar at Euston Station.
He was a close friend, compatriot and work colleague of my father, Charles Joseph. My brother, as a young boy, recalls that he first met Asquith Xavier in 1963 when he accompanied our father to Southampton Dock. My father had come to meet his family after a fraught journey from Dominica. I had remained with my paternal grandmother - following the family a few years later. We remember Mr Xavier, as we addressed him, as a warm and kindly man.
Both men were part of the Caribbean community living in the Notting Hill area, settling in the 1950s after responding to the call for employment opportunities. They were of a similar mindset; they had many shared interests and a sense of injustice in terms of resisting racial discrimination in its many forms, including the deprivations of extremely poor housing and unfairness in the workplace. Neither had the stomach for another battle, yet they would not accept this injustice, although my father was pre-occupied with concurrent issues.
Asquith wished to transfer from Marylebone where he started work over a decade before as a porter, to a better-paid job at Euston Station. His National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) representative, James Prendergast, (a name I remember from my father) liaised with British Rail. Trade union membership did not necessarily guarantee genuine representation however, as, they too were prone to discriminatory practices. It was the Staff Committee, members of the NUR themselves, who wrote to deny him the job, and it was under the auspices of British Rail that this practice took place. This ignited the campaign to bring an end to an exclusion that is said to have persisted for at least 12 years. Black and Asian workers were widely subjected to racist abuse and a wall of resistance in the workplace on a daily basis with impunity, exacerbated by a further insult to ‘remove the chip from their shoulders’ if they dared to protest. The Race Relations Board and other watchdog bodies received a regular flow of complaints. However the outcomes were more often than not unsuccessful at investigation, due to the intense subterfuge in the workplace.
The official end came on July 15th and the bar was subsequently lifted from all of British Rail stations. This represented a major shift in industrial and race relations and led to positive implications for Black and Asian workers. A British Rail, manager Leslie Leppington declared that one [a bar] had not actually existed and commented that "If we had wanted to impose a real colour bar we would not have done it this way. We would have found some excuse to show he was not suitable for the job, wouldn't we?" [1]
On the ground, it was ‘business as usual’. Asquith Xavier (and others who followed and supported – including my father) continued to experience the expected retaliation over a period of time. Asquith specifically, because of his unwavering outlook was subjected to a tirade of abuse, requiring protection to and from his place of work.
One prominent supporting organisation, the West Indian Standing Conference, whose secretary at the time was Jeff Crawford, had taken the matter up with British Rail and the government. They were not convinced of the change being implemented across the rail industry. There is an iconic, or even symbolic photograph of Asquith Xavier taken in August 1966 on his first day of work, wearing his regulation issue black, brass-buttoned uniform. He is seen consulting his watch prior to boarding the train - in the background are white passengers and porters’ barrows as though to illustrate his trajectory [2]. I have fond memories of my father wearing the very same uniform setting off to work, carrying his holdall containing his guard’s paraphernalia and a flask. He would travel as far as Scotland on his many journeys.
The campaign was ahead of its time, given that the Race Relations Act was only amended in 1968 and was precursory to arguably further amendments well into the seventies and the present time, such as the setting up of the now defunct Commission for Racial Equality in 1976. It began because one modest yet, determined man from a small Caribbean nation applied to his employer for a transfer to improve his prospects. The rejection was a catalyst to achieving a milestone in addressing racism in the workplace, not only at British Rail, but in the wider industry.
Jean Joseph, June 2016
1. BBC On This Day, 15 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/15/newsid_3043000/3043439.stm
2. http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/west-indian-guard-asquith-xavier-on-his-first-day-at-work-news-photo/71642060 Credit: Keystone / Stringer
From the archive, 16 July 1966: Colour bar ends at all London stations by Eric Silver Originally published in the Guardian on 16 July 1966 http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jul/16/archive-colour-bar-ends-at-all-london-1966 First-class Hero, 15 July 2006, by Ros Wynne-Jones http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/first-class-hero-633709
Passengers, using the plethora of rail services that traverse London on a daily basis, naturally take one thing for granted. That is, the members of rail staff they encounter, drawn from a wide demography of the multicultural landscape. Further, those commuting to and from Euston Station are unlikely to know, or remember, a landmark victory won in 1966.
The 16th of July this year will mark 49 years of a cause célèbre and momentous uplifting - though not of the World Cup and the roar of a full capacity crowd at the old Wembley Stadium - that still resonates today. It was of another victory, won by Asquith Xavier, a Dominican passenger guard and accidental hero campaigner who help topple a colour bar at Euston Station.
He was a close friend, compatriot and work colleague of my father, Charles Joseph. My brother, as a young boy, recalls that he first met Asquith Xavier in 1963 when he accompanied our father to Southampton Dock. My father had come to meet his family after a fraught journey from Dominica. I had remained with my paternal grandmother - following the family a few years later. We remember Mr Xavier, as we addressed him, as a warm and kindly man.
Both men were part of the Caribbean community living in the Notting Hill area, settling in the 1950s after responding to the call for employment opportunities. They were of a similar mindset; they had many shared interests and a sense of injustice in terms of resisting racial discrimination in its many forms, including the deprivations of extremely poor housing and unfairness in the workplace. Neither had the stomach for another battle, yet they would not accept this injustice, although my father was pre-occupied with concurrent issues.
Asquith wished to transfer from Marylebone where he started work over a decade before as a porter, to a better-paid job at Euston Station. His National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) representative, James Prendergast, (a name I remember from my father) liaised with British Rail. Trade union membership did not necessarily guarantee genuine representation however, as, they too were prone to discriminatory practices. It was the Staff Committee, members of the NUR themselves, who wrote to deny him the job, and it was under the auspices of British Rail that this practice took place. This ignited the campaign to bring an end to an exclusion that is said to have persisted for at least 12 years. Black and Asian workers were widely subjected to racist abuse and a wall of resistance in the workplace on a daily basis with impunity, exacerbated by a further insult to ‘remove the chip from their shoulders’ if they dared to protest. The Race Relations Board and other watchdog bodies received a regular flow of complaints. However the outcomes were more often than not unsuccessful at investigation, due to the intense subterfuge in the workplace.
The official end came on July 15th and the bar was subsequently lifted from all of British Rail stations. This represented a major shift in industrial and race relations and led to positive implications for Black and Asian workers. A British Rail, manager Leslie Leppington declared that one [a bar] had not actually existed and commented that "If we had wanted to impose a real colour bar we would not have done it this way. We would have found some excuse to show he was not suitable for the job, wouldn't we?" [1]
On the ground, it was ‘business as usual’. Asquith Xavier (and others who followed and supported – including my father) continued to experience the expected retaliation over a period of time. Asquith specifically, because of his unwavering outlook was subjected to a tirade of abuse, requiring protection to and from his place of work.
One prominent supporting organisation, the West Indian Standing Conference, whose secretary at the time was Jeff Crawford, had taken the matter up with British Rail and the government. They were not convinced of the change being implemented across the rail industry. There is an iconic, or even symbolic photograph of Asquith Xavier taken in August 1966 on his first day of work, wearing his regulation issue black, brass-buttoned uniform. He is seen consulting his watch prior to boarding the train - in the background are white passengers and porters’ barrows as though to illustrate his trajectory [2]. I have fond memories of my father wearing the very same uniform setting off to work, carrying his holdall containing his guard’s paraphernalia and a flask. He would travel as far as Scotland on his many journeys.
The campaign was ahead of its time, given that the Race Relations Act was only amended in 1968 and was precursory to arguably further amendments well into the seventies and the present time, such as the setting up of the now defunct Commission for Racial Equality in 1976. It began because one modest yet, determined man from a small Caribbean nation applied to his employer for a transfer to improve his prospects. The rejection was a catalyst to achieving a milestone in addressing racism in the workplace, not only at British Rail, but in the wider industry.
Jean Joseph, June 2016
1. BBC On This Day, 15 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/15/newsid_3043000/3043439.stm
2. http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/west-indian-guard-asquith-xavier-on-his-first-day-at-work-news-photo/71642060 Credit: Keystone / Stringer
From the archive, 16 July 1966: Colour bar ends at all London stations by Eric Silver Originally published in the Guardian on 16 July 1966 http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jul/16/archive-colour-bar-ends-at-all-london-1966 First-class Hero, 15 July 2006, by Ros Wynne-Jones http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/first-class-hero-633709
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Framing Black Visual Arts Event
...
The title Framing
Black Visual Arts suggests that Monday’s forum was going to be as succinct,
ordered and definable as its moniker. That, it was not. It was, however, an
engaging, multi-faceted discussion attempting to engage with the exhibition and
Black British art itself.
A conversion took place between Eddie Chambers and Errol
Lloyd, led by artist, writer and curator Sonia Dyer. Eddie Chambers is an art
historian, writer, artist whose work features in No Colour Bar, and an associate professor of Art and Art History at
the University of Austin. Errol Lloyd is a writer and artist of the Caribbean
Artists Movement, also producing illustrations for the Bogle L’Ouverture
Publications. Eddie and Errol acted as dynamic creative archives, with Chambers
representing the artistic aspect of the exhibition from a later generation,
whereas Lloyd showcased his close personal relationship with the Huntley’s and
the Caribbean artist movement.
It was fantastic to hear about CAM from a member of the
group, with Lloyd expressing that CAM was made up of various creative
practitioners who originally did not define themselves through their colour. ‘As time went on, and with the new
generation, the question of identity had to be addressed’.
Sonia asked if he was aware that he was creating a culture, Lloyd
explained that they were aware nothing like this had been done before, Black
publishers with such political foundations. L’Ouverture was partially born out
of a desire to raise funds for Walter Rodney when he was excluded from Jamaica
in 1968.
Both guests offered a personal link to the tense raced
history of Britain, with Chambers noting the strong anti immigrant sentiment
expressed by the National Front. Lloyd explained the outreach to American civil
right and the South African Apartheid struggles in Britain, which he thinks may
have strengthened the pan-african sense. ‘I
think some of the reasons for this is through finding a common cause with
struggles in world’.
The panel discussed the duality of being Black and British,
with Lloyd remembering thinking that the future generation would be British
Nationals and thus have a different outlook to migrants like himself.
The forum took time to look back at Ronald Moody, whose desire
to work in an african style was unusual but it’s timeless and static nature was
something which Moody wished to allude to. Lloyd also expressed his sympathy
for Moody, who was not able to work on the epic monumental scale that his work
he was inspired by - ‘imagine if he had
the resources on the scale of which other artists were better funded, like
Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth’.
Chambers noted that Moody’s relative prominence to other
Black artists is down to the efforts of his niece who tirelessly worked to
conserve his collection but Moody himself was never able to enjoy this success.
‘There is a big problem in
retrospectively insinuating an artist into a slot when he has died, the real
benefit would be to influence another generation and peers their is lifetime’.
For Chambers, the history of Black artists have had regular
peaks and troughs but not a sustained apotheosis - ‘I
long to wander into a gallery, where, in any part of the country, where there
is an exhibition [of Black artists] just for the sake of it. Chambers
expressed that he saw Black Artists exhibited in an abnormal context, in a
raced environment. An audience member argued that there are a large number of exhibiting Black artists who aren’t
celebrated merely to tick a box. Lamenting the lack of formalistic
considerations of the art, using the talk itself as an example of how context
often overshadows the actual art.
A second audience member asked what made race so persistent
that it often refuses to disappear regardless of where the artist is located. Chambers
echoed these sentiments, that we are born into a world shaped by racial
characteristics and experiences – with press responses to artists playing a monumental
role in its reception. For Chambers, art critics tend to focus on imagined
racial narratives, which are clumsy, heavy handed and blinkered. These
responses aren’t reflections of the artists, but the prejudices of the critics
and the entire artist institution.
Audience member Gus John, who discovered both Bogle
L’Ouverture and New Beacon Books in his early 20s, emphasises that ‘our creativity has never ever been defined
circumscribed by racism. Race may have become a context that enables us to use
culture in the service of political defiance. When they get racialised in
Britain because of its perpetual race narrative… it is suggesting we can’t make
any contribution to society unless we are identified by them’.
One audience member asked ‘Why are they being apologetic [about being defined as a Black artist when
we attempt to express visually our historical experience. When a British artist
goes to America, they are called a British artist’. Eddie pointed out that
the label ‘British’ is not constraining in a crude or blunt way whereas Black
African artist is constraining, if it is the only category your work is located
within. Another audience member offered ‘If
an artist is working with the right type of curator, the art can be appreciated
for the right type of quality’.
As the talk drew to a close, so much hung in what was unsaid
and the endless discussion of Black Art that could have taken place whether
socio-political, formalistic or racial. What stuck with me was the comment
about how by focusing on the context of the artist, their race and heritage,
the artwork itself is neglected. This was pertinent, something I agreed with.
But I also think the beauty of an art and archival exhibition is that the work
is not divorced from its social, cultural and political history. It is not
denied, and by embracing the textured history surrounding the art, the tireless
efforts of Jessica and Eric, and countless others, is celebrated, remembered
and legitimised. This is crucial when Britain’s terse race relations can often
be denied or forgotten in the face of more visible historical struggles in the
USA and South Africa. The evening was
not long enough, and the conversations continued as audience members left their
seats, hopefully inspired, provoked and no doubt desiring to continue these
crucial discussions in their own personal environments.
Sunday, 12 July 2015
Marsha Lowe in conversation with Eddie Chambers: Problems and Progress
Marsha Lowe interviews artist, art historian and curator Eddie Chambers. Eddie Chambers work is featured in No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960 - 1990. Marsha Lowe M.A. is a Director of Realism Ltd. a communications consultancy working with the voluntary sector. She studied Arts Policy and Management at The University of London focusing on the issues facing black artists working in contemporary Britain. As a columnist for SABLE Litmag, she continues to write on a variety of topics concerning the enduring global impact of colonialism on contemporary society.
Eddie Chambers: ‘Problems and Progress’
ML: I’d like to begin with Joseph Johnson[i]
from your book, Black Artists in British Art, which documents the history of Black
artists in this country. I wonder if you could speak a bit about how you
feel we're progressing with the task of reinserting ourselves into history?
Documenting that people like Johnson existed, had an
impact, were part of the infrastructure and the importance of us knowing that
for ourselves?
EC: What I would
say about Joseph Johnson and that wider history that you just touched upon is I
think that raising awareness is an ongoing project. There has been, relatively
speaking, a fairly large amount of scholarship researching Black British history
so I think that the challenge is making that known to a wider public. There
hasn’t been that much in relation to the visual arts although the wider
histories are now fairly substantially documented but somehow that material has
not yet made its way into a wider consciousness; it exists in its own space. Some
publications have come into existence recently, wonderful new material such as
the Oxford Companion to Black British
History but they need to be more widely known.
ML: Yes, and
we’re talking today because of the new art exhibition being held by the Huntley
Archives and, now that the Black Cultural Archives are in their new
home in Brixton, I wonder what role they might have in terms of trying
to disseminate this knowledge to a wider audience?
EC: It’s probably
too early to say for definite what contribution the Black Cultural Archives
might make but I’m hoping that it will become an established fixture. I’m
hoping that one of the contributions it might make is to attract schools, not
only in Lambeth or London but across the country. It should be a destination in
the same way as the V&A might be or the British Museum; I think it has the
potential to make those kinds of contributions. Because once that history can
enmesh itself within the school curricula, there’s much more chance of it being
normalised and accepted as being part and parcel of British history. I’d love
to see schoolchildren from all across the country, of all backgrounds, being
taught and learning about the wonderful richness of history including, of
course, its black dimensions.
One thing I should also say is that the issue of archiving
and collecting material is such a fragile enterprise because it’s very time
consuming and it’s very costly to collect material, to assemble it and also to
make it available to the wider public. There have been many projects that have
come and gone for the want of resources. So this is a major issue because, within
Britain, funding is such a major issue. So something can come into existence,
it can operate for a couple of years and then it can whither for the want of more funding.
 |
| How Much Longer You Bastards, 1983, mixed media on board, Museums Sheffield (on loan to No Colour Bar) © Eddie Chambers, 2012. |
ML: And the lack
of that type of sustained support is also an issue for many of the artists
featured in your book; I was impressed by their sheer resilience during much of
the time you document.
EC: Yes,
absolutely. I think in some ways one of the strongest eras of Black artists’
activity was around the early 60s. But we’re talking about quite sporadic
exposure. Frank Bowling was probably one of the most energetic and active artists
and by 1963-64 he found his career stymied somewhat and his work not being
accepted for a couple of important exhibitions. So this thing about one step
forward and two steps back, it’s been a feature because we can roll that forward
to the 80s where we have a period of astonishing activity in many respects with
lots of exhibitions happening around the country but where are those artists
now? Several of them are still around but a great number of them have
essentially disappeared. So when one hears about exposure for an artist at the
present time, it’s quite tempting to wonder how long this exposure will last.
Because there is a pattern of certain artists being allowed to have some
exposure but that can very rapidly become an historical thing.
ML: I did get the
sense when I read your chapter on some of the more prominent Black British
artists working today that you felt some doubt as to whether this signalled
lasting change.
EC: Yes, and I
think it’s too early to say. In some ways the omens for the favoured few are
quite good, particularly if one looks internationally. Chris Ofili[ii]
recently had a very successful retrospective at the New Museum in New York and
just this week Hew Locke[iii]
received quite a lot of press coverage for his commissioned work to commemorate
the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. He was born in Edinburgh
and raised in Guyana and here he is, an artist selected for quite a major
commission. I think the work was unveiled in the presence of the Queen and the Prime
Minister, and so on. And so if you’re minded to respect those types of
initiatives, then in some ways they can be seen as quite important pointers to
some artists at least having a sustained success.
Black Artists in
British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present by Eddie Chambers was published
in July 2014 by I.B. Tauris
[i]
Joseph Johnson was an African seaman in the Merchant Navy century until he was
injured and subsequently discharged. Ineligible for assistance because he was
not British, he took to busking on the streets of London, where he was drawn
with an intricate model of the ship Nelson on his cap in 1815, thus potentially
becoming the first Black British visual and performance artist.
[ii]
Chris Ofili’s Night and Day
retrospective was on exhibit at the New Museum in New York from October 2014 to
February 2015.
[iii]
Hew Locke’s The Jurors is a permanent
artwork that stands at Runnymede and was unveiled by Prince William on 15 June
2015.
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