News about Ellen Gallagher

During the 18th century, John Singleton Copley and his wife enslaved three servants on their farm in Beacon Hill, Boston. In the Royal Academy's (RA) Entangled Pasts exhibition, the American artist is shown to having links to slavery, which delves into the art institution's ties to colonialism and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In 1779, 11 years after the Royal Academy opened, Copley was elected as an academic - one of the most prestigious groups of painters, sculptors, architects, and printers. Earlier this month, the RA was chastised for slapping a trigger warning on the exhibit, in which it warned that it would feature themes of slavery and bigotry, as well as historical racial language and images.'

The blanket warning has been sent out for the forthcoming 'Entangled Pasts: Art, Colonialism, and Change' exhibition, which warns people that it will have elements of slavery and racial representation, as well as historical racial language and images.' The new exhibit explores empire, enslavement, resistance, abolition, and colonialism, running from February 3 to May 28. It includes work by JMW Turner, Ellen Gallagher, Joshua Reynolds, Yinka Shonibare, John Singleton Copley, and Hew Locke. Lubaina Himid, the show's host, said it was a "thorough, rich, layered filling in of holes," showing how black people had contributed to Britain. 'It'll be like a journey through time,' she said, though she added some paintings that were 'difficult.'