Black History Month

An Art Club on Racial Equity, and two Artists' Profiles in Honor of Black History Month

by Joshua Y'Barbo
Oct 2022

As an artist-in-residence at the TEAM LEWIS Foundation in London, I curated the TEAM LEWIS Emerging Artist Annual Exhibition in 2021, which included artworks and designs made by recent graduates of Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London. I also had the pleasure of writing and delivering an Art Club on Racial Equity for a variety of groups from APAC, EMEA, the UK and the US. In honour of Black History Month, I'm presenting elements from the Art Club as well as two artist profiles, including two paintings: 60 Years...(2021) by Bryana Burke and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (2021) by Natnael Dawit. 

Art Club: Racism Nope Nope Nope!

Early this year, I wrote an art club on racial equity, which I started by writing a session on equality.  It didn’t take long to see that racial equality and equity differed. In this Art Club session, we explored Racial Equity and Art while participants learned technical drawing skills by completing drawing exercises. At the same time,  I talked about the difference between racial equity and equality and how this discrepancy continues to create obstacles within the art market for black artists. According to social-change.co.uk (2019), 

[…] equality means ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities and receives the same treatment and support. [While] Equity is about giving people what they need, in order to make things fair. Giving more to those who need it. This is not the same as equality, nor is it the same as inequality. It is simply giving more to those who need it, which is proportionate to their own circumstances, in order to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities; for example providing more support to a disadvantaged student so they can reach their full potential.

Social-change.co.uk (2019) also stated,

The difference between equality and equity must be emphasised. Although both promote fairness, equality achieves this through treating everyone the same regardless of need, while equity achieves this through treating people differently dependent on need. However, this different treatment may be the key to reaching equality. Referring back to the student example, fairness through equality would mean giving all students the same level of support. However, those who need more support beyond this initial level to succeed would therefore not have equal opportunities to those who do not. By ‘unequal’ I do not mean providing someone with less but simply providing more to those who need it. Alternatively, fairness through equity means giving students varying, perhaps unequal, but proportionate levels of support. This would then mean that those who need and receive the extra support would go onto have the same, equal opportunities as those who did not.

The distinction between racial equality and equity is important because equal support for everyone does not mean that everyone has equal opportunity.  For context, The Rider University in New Jersey explains how privilege intersects aspects of society based on those who receive certain advantages and benefits compared to others who do not benefit from the same privileges (Garcia 2018). This understanding helps those privileged understand the perspective of those striving to overcome their lack of privilege. It also helps institutions to adjust their levels of support for those who need more to compete because they faced obstacles and restrictions based on their race or social class. 

However, hiding behind terminology and a gestural 'wokeness' doesn't provide students or artists with the support or access they need. Art institutions and the art market grapple with their own performed attempts at equality, diversity and inclusivity. For example, on 10 July 2020, for the Art Newspaper, Margaret Carrigan wrote,

Galleries, fairs and auction houses are issuing solidarity statements and re-evaluating the diversity of their staffs. But "performative wokeness” will not fix the market’s whiteness. It is one of the art market’s most uncomfortable truths that, although black and minority artists are enjoying greater representation, it remains white people who predominantly sell—and buy—their work. But as the Movement for Black Lives reaches fever pitch in the US, the art trade is being asked to confront racial inequality among its ranks. 

Carrigan makes a significant point that better representation of black and minority artists may be on the rise as institutions quickly atone publicly for past sins, but tipping the scales slightly is not the same as providing equitable opportunities within and access to the art market. Carrigan (2020) calls out ‘Wokeness for the wealthy’ nurtured by insincere and self-serving art businesses. For example, Carrigan (2020) wrote,

KJ Freeman of New York’s Housing gallery says the Black Lives Matter statements issued by art businesses “are performative wokeness. It comes from a similar place as wanting to get into the Prada party at an art fair: the desire for access.” […] The art market’s system of value has always been built on principles of exclusion and ownership, Freeman explains. […] The rise in prices corresponds with galleries diversifying their rosters, taking on minority artists, while still selling their work to predominantly white clients [which is] a net good for undervalued black artists but it does little to address structural racism.

So, it appears the art market took notice of a niche corner overlooked by its ever-present exclusivity and the representation of marginalised artists of colour marginally improved. However, increased sales and attention towards black and minority artists also highlight a problem when a social movement becomes a cultural trend without reciprocity for a community that surged a noticeable wave for those needing support the most in the first place. 

Therefore, there is much to do between doing something, whether it raises awareness or produces tangible solutions, or offering a programme of creative activities that serves a community of all ages. For example, there are many organisations that fight against racism through art. For example, the Racial Equity Alliance (2016) suggest ‘Arts Are a Strategy to Build Racial Equity.’ Writing for the blog, Randy Engstrom (2016) stated,

Arts are how we can achieve Racial Equity in our institutions, and in our lives. They hold the power to capture, nourish and move us. They serve as a vehicle for radical social change, and are an effective strategy to address the pressing issues of our time. We believe that we need to center the arts in our strategy, but look beyond our field to affect change structurally, in partnership with the community, City departments, other institutions and jurisdictions, so we can help build racial equity in housing, criminal justice, education, jobs, the environment and more.

Art Against Racism (nd) is an organisation that ‘[…] is creating an international community of bold creatives, arts administrators, community organizations and activists dedicated to anti-racist social change.’ According to the organisation’s website (n.d.),

Through The Arts, We Educate And Inspire Communities To Eradicate Racism And Create An Anti-Racist Society. We’re focused on ending the harmful impact of racism and white supremacy on Black people in the United States and, consequently, on the entire country by shifting the dominant cultural beliefs and norms. Our hope is to eliminate individual and systemic racism. We’re advancing toward this goal through art and art-related activities that educate communities about the importance of persistent and intentional anti-racist actions such as voting. And, also, we’re and developing and supporting a national community of social justice minded artists.

Another notable organisation is Racial Equity Tools, which provides arts and culture strategies to enact change. The organisation’s website states (n.d.), 'Arts and culture are among the most powerful ways to share anti-racist, decolonizing and pro-Blackness representations, messages and stories. They are also useful tools for engaging groups around racial equity topics, and for support of transformative learning.' Although the art market is a significant part of institutional racism, art-making and art education offer accessible tools, perspectives, strategies, methods, experiences and ideas to help progress equity, equality, and the important difference between both ideas.

The session continued with a discussion about influential black artists whose work is about racial equality and diversity in contemporary arts while participants put all this knowledge to use by completing drawing exercises. I made a list of artists for today’s session referencing an article for Harper’s BAZAAR, titled 20 Female Artists You Need to Know written in May 2020. Ariana Marsh wrote the article, ‘With the help of Kat Widing, junior specialist in the Post-War and Contemporary Department at Christie’s […]’. The article ‘[…] journeys through history to select 20 female artists who have changed the art world forever […]’. I selected a few examples of black female artists from Marsh and Widing’s list to talk about in this session. The session closed with a show n' tell of our drawings and discussion. We talked about the power art and culture have in sharing and supporting anti-racist, decolonial visual representations and narratives.

Bryana Burke

London-born Fine Artist

60 Years... (2021), Mixed Media Portrait with linked QR Code.

According to Burke (2021), 'Made from collected photographs and painted fabric on a calico backing. This piece looks to celebrate the union of a Jamaican couple who met and migrated from Jamaica to the United Kingdom in the early 60’s and who are now Celebrating 60 years of marriage. This is their story.'

Visit Brayana Burke's Chelsea, UAL Graduate Showcase Profile or the artist's Instagram. Also, read an interview I conducted with Bryana in May 2022.

Natnael Dawit

'Natnael Dawit is a multidisciplinary designer hailing from North London, Tottenham. Creating work surrounding the black & working-class experience throughout a multitude of mediums in the hopes of preserving said culture from becoming obsolete in classist and racist institutions such as UAL and the self-proclaimed "art scene"', according to the artist's Chelsea, UAL Graduate Showcase Profile.

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (2021), Acrylic Paint on Canvas.

“Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" Is a self-portrait of myself which reflects my inner turmoil as someone who has been prejudged, disrespected and misunderstood his whole life due to his skin colour. The characters that surround me can be seen as the physical embodiments of the exaggerated stereotypes I have been attached to. Whether that be a devil, angel or twisted creature, I'm constantly fighting to defy those expectations in all avenues of my life, a responsibility in which black people are set upon as children, a norm that we all collectively share, which has been a detriment to us for generations, according to Dawit (2021).

Check out the Natnael Dawit 's Instagram.

References:

Art Against Racism. (nd). Our Mission. On: artagainstracism.org. Available [online] at: (https://artagainstracism.org/home/about-us/mission/) [accessed 17 October 2022].

Carrigan, M. (2020). How the art industry is grappling with its systemic race inequality. On: theartnewspaper.com. Available [online] at: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/07/10/how-the-art-industry-is-grappling-with-its-systemic-race-inequality [accessed 17 October 2022].

Engstrom, R. (2016). Arts Are a Strategy to Build Racial Equity. On: www.racialequityalliance.org. Available [online] at: (https://www.racialequityalliance.org/2016/11/28/arts-strategy-build-racial-equity/) [accessed 17 Oct 2022].

García, Justin D. 2018. “Privilege (Social Inequality).” Salem Press Encyclopedia.

Marsh, A. (2020). 20 Female Artists You Need to Know. On: harpersbazaar.com. Available [online] at: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/g7916/best-female-artists/ [accessed 17 October 2022].

Racial Equity Tools (nd). Arts and Culture. On: racialequitytools.org. Available [online] at: (https://www.racialequitytools.org/resources/act/strategies/arts-and-culture) [accessed 17 October 2022].

social-change.co.uk. (2019). Equality and Equity. Available [online] at: (https://social-change.co.uk/blog/2019-03-29-equality-and-equity) [accessed 17 October 2022].