Black
The Royal College of Art will collaborate with the African and African Caribbean Design Diaspora at the end of the month for a new show, Black, which will bring together 60 years work by alumni and students of African and African Caribbean descent.
Designers and artists participating include Chris Ofili, Charlie Allen, Eileen Perrier, Faisal Abdu’Allah and Frank Bowling RA, but 23 have been named.
The RCA says it has been spurred by the perception that the college ‘is seen as being a predominantly white university’ and adds that the works in Black are ‘exemplars of creativity’ and ‘points of celebration.’
It was the AACD which approached the RCA though and brought together the likes of designer Simon Brewster and silversmith Ndidi Ekubia.
Rector of the RCA Dr Paul Thompson hopes that African and Caribbean artists ‘applying to the College will have the confidence that admission is based on Merit and not any other factor’, he says.
Black will run from 31 August- 6 September at the Henry Moore Galleries, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7
If the aim of the exhibition is to convince us that the admission to the college is based ‘on merit and not on any other factor’ [ i presume the reference here is to skin colour] than isn’t organising an exhibition based on skin colour achieving the opposite effect? Isn’t this patronising? I can identify myself by much more than my white skin so why should it be different for artists of different colour?