Museums can no longer be impartial after BLM protests
THE Black Lives Matter movement has made it impossible for museums to refrain from engaging in politics, the head of the National Gallery has said.
Gabriele Finaldi, the gallery’s director, told a board meeting in June that remaining impartial was “no longer feasible” in the face of the mass protests throughout the summer.
Museums which receive public funding have historically avoided any public statements, Mr Finaldi told trustees.
However, according to The Times he went on to say: “The climate has changed so that silence was now perceived as being complicit.”
Mr Finaldi, an art historian who has held the director role since 2015, described the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as a “highly complex area” before he expressed his belief that “taking a neutral stance was no longer feasi
‘The climate has changed so silence is perceived as being complicit. Taking a neutral stance is no longer feasible’
ble”. He said: “[Part of ] the gallery’s strategy was to draw in a younger audience, to whom these issues mattered a great deal.”
The art museum’s Trafalgar Square location was the site of a BLM demonstration which saw thousands gather following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the United States.
“We must take this moment to listen, pose important questions and reflect on how our museum can play a role in making our society more just, tolerant and inclusive,” the gallery said in a statement after the demonstrations.
The gallery was accused by campaigners of having accrued its pictures from profits that stemmed from slavery.
Tate Britain also came under pressure from campaigners to remove a rest aurant mural t hat depicted t he enslavement of a black child, while anthropological artefacts, including shrunken heads, were removed from a museum in Oxford.
Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, wrote to publicly funded institutions in late September to warn that they could see money withdrawn if they remove artwork or statues as a result of campaigners.