Swarms of people arrived at the Tate to attend a talk held by Reni Eddo-Lodge. She was there to discuss her book, Why I no Longer Talk to White People about Race. 

Stuffed into the gallery’s atrium, a staff member standing on a chair apologised to a crowd of 400 people. They were told to go home.

The staff member said, “We can only get 230 people into the venue”

“The venue is full, you undoubtedly will not be able to be able to take part. My apologies for that.”

And now, hundreds of those turned away took to Twitter to vent their frustrations. Many felt the Tate ignored Eddo-Lodge’s cultural influence as a young black woman, whose stated mission is to expose structural racism.

One Tweet read, “The situation tonight couldn’t make it any clearer that art institutions are out of touch with a young POC audience.”

The Tate released an apology on their website:

“We’re very sorry that people were disappointed; it’s a testament to Reni and her book that so many people wanted to hear her speak.

Thank you to everyone attending for their patience and understanding.”

The gallery also invited some of the disgruntled attendees to a focus group aimed towards reconciliation.

Abbey Monteiro, a graphic designer who was at the event, is one of the few invited to the group. However, she feels it would take a lot to see eye to eye:

“I think they’re just trying to cover up for their mistakes. You [the Tate] knew what you were doing.

You know this is going to attract people including people of colour. We rarely get events like this to go to.

It’s very demeaning that they assume that no one would come. We actually do come out in force when we want to”

We contact the Tate for a comment, but they referred us to their online apology. We have yet to see if this is enough.

 

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