Developing More Representative Art Collections Could Not Be More Urgent

Art institutions in the North-West of England have been pivotal in exhibiting Black British artists over the decades, writes Dr Anjalie Dalal-Clayton. So why do our public art collections remain so white? It’s time for action, not mealy-mouthed statements, she says, so that museums and galleries better represent the communities they exist to serve…

Black artists and other artists ‘of colour’ are not well-represented in our public museums and galleries. For decades, such artists have contested their marginalisation in and by the cultural institutions that were established to serve and reflect British society; by interrogating their structures and processes, and by finding innovative ways to claim spaces for their work and to make themselves visible, often with support from cultural organisations and galleries outside the capital