“Mum, look - this one looks like you!" I turned around and saw an African American boy who can't have been older than 6 or 7 excitedly point his finger at Thomas J Prce'sxlarge female head placed in the Sculpture Gallery.
Surrounded by the likes of Rodin and Canova, Lay It Down (On the Edge of Beauty) (2018) stands out for the beauty of its distinctive features while blending in for its nod to classical style. It's like it's always been there, and maybe that's where it should stay (although I see from the label that it's on loan from the artist - please reconsider?).
The display continues downstairs in the Europe section. Luxury, Liberty and Power 1760-1815, reads one the blurbs. But whom for? This is why this display is so important and powerful. It is an act of justice and inclusion, a celebration of the underrepresented that highlights and addresses the erasure of the black presence in the museum and in history at large.
That kid's words still ringing in my ears, I kept thinking that is how you ultimately measure success - by everyone feeling seen, being able to relate to what they are looking at and learn from it.
Bravo Melanie Vandenbrouck
and everyone else involved in this brilliant and thought-provoking 'intervention’. display.
