The artist and activist Liv Wynter has resigned from her role on Tate’s learning team in “direct retaliation” to comments made by the gallery’s director Maria Balshaw last month on sexual harassment in the art world, which have been criticised as victim-blaming.
In a resignation letter published on her website last week, Wynter – who had been working with the learning team to run workshops for schoolchildren – said Balshaw’s words had come as a “huge slap in the face”.
She wrote: “As a survivor who makes work (I think quite explicitly) about what it means to have survived a violent relationship, I feel personally disrespected by Maria. I also feel like there is no dignity to be found as a survivor whilst working for her, nor is there any dignity in creating work about abuse and survival under the guise of someone who considers the abuse I suffered to be my fault.”
She was responding to an interview Balshaw gave the Times last month, in which the Tate director said of sexual harassment: “I personally have never suffered any such issues. Then, I wouldn’t. I was raised to be a confident woman who, when I encountered harassment, would say, ‘Please don’t’… or something rather more direct.”
Balshaw later wrote on an Instagram thread: “I am sorry if this has been misunderstood. It is absolutely not my intention to say that women are in any way to blame. To be clear, it is the perpetrators who are responsible for their behaviour and not the women who are subjected to it.”
But Wynter said she felt forced to resign after attending a public meeting with Balshaw, saying the Tate director had failed to take responsibility and had blamed the Times for quoting her out of context. “I was saddened to watch a woman still completely unable to take ownership of anything but self-proclaimed ‘ignorance’,” said Wynter.
The artist also took issue with separate comments Balshaw had made at the launch of the Art Fund’s Why Collect? report, where she referenced black gallery visitors “eating their fried chicken lunch”.
Wynter criticised the Tate director’s subsequent response. “[Balshaw] was confident in saying she didn't understand how previous remarks she had made regarding black men and fried chicken could be seen as racist… If she wishes to wear this apparent racial and sexist ignorance as a badge, I am forced to question, how did she become appointed to the role?”
Wynter also used her resignation letter to hit out at “invisible inequalities” at Tate, saying she felt the gallery was using its work with artists from marginalised communities as a “distraction technique” to disguise the lack of diversity among the institution’s staff as a whole.
A spokesman from Tate said that Balshaw had “apologised during an open discussion with staff” and had restated her commitment to inclusivity and diversity.
In a statement, Balshaw said: “Throughout my career I have been dedicated to addressing issues of gender, race and equality and I apologise if my recent comments have offended people. When I became director of Tate, I set out my vision to make this the most culturally inclusive museum organisation in the world, and I am truly committed to that vision. I have spoken publicly about my values on many occasions over the years and I will continue to argue for equality and inclusion at every opportunity.”
Wynter's resignation comes after Tate suspended its relationship with one of its most significant donors, the art dealer Anthony d’Offay, after three women came forward with sexual harassment allegations about him in the wake of the #MeToo movement. D’Offay denies the claims.
In a resignation letter published on her website last week, Wynter – who had been working with the learning team to run workshops for schoolchildren – said Balshaw’s words had come as a “huge slap in the face”.
She wrote: “As a survivor who makes work (I think quite explicitly) about what it means to have survived a violent relationship, I feel personally disrespected by Maria. I also feel like there is no dignity to be found as a survivor whilst working for her, nor is there any dignity in creating work about abuse and survival under the guise of someone who considers the abuse I suffered to be my fault.”
She was responding to an interview Balshaw gave the Times last month, in which the Tate director said of sexual harassment: “I personally have never suffered any such issues. Then, I wouldn’t. I was raised to be a confident woman who, when I encountered harassment, would say, ‘Please don’t’… or something rather more direct.”
Balshaw later wrote on an Instagram thread: “I am sorry if this has been misunderstood. It is absolutely not my intention to say that women are in any way to blame. To be clear, it is the perpetrators who are responsible for their behaviour and not the women who are subjected to it.”
But Wynter said she felt forced to resign after attending a public meeting with Balshaw, saying the Tate director had failed to take responsibility and had blamed the Times for quoting her out of context. “I was saddened to watch a woman still completely unable to take ownership of anything but self-proclaimed ‘ignorance’,” said Wynter.
The artist also took issue with separate comments Balshaw had made at the launch of the Art Fund’s Why Collect? report, where she referenced black gallery visitors “eating their fried chicken lunch”.
Wynter criticised the Tate director’s subsequent response. “[Balshaw] was confident in saying she didn't understand how previous remarks she had made regarding black men and fried chicken could be seen as racist… If she wishes to wear this apparent racial and sexist ignorance as a badge, I am forced to question, how did she become appointed to the role?”
Wynter also used her resignation letter to hit out at “invisible inequalities” at Tate, saying she felt the gallery was using its work with artists from marginalised communities as a “distraction technique” to disguise the lack of diversity among the institution’s staff as a whole.
A spokesman from Tate said that Balshaw had “apologised during an open discussion with staff” and had restated her commitment to inclusivity and diversity.
In a statement, Balshaw said: “Throughout my career I have been dedicated to addressing issues of gender, race and equality and I apologise if my recent comments have offended people. When I became director of Tate, I set out my vision to make this the most culturally inclusive museum organisation in the world, and I am truly committed to that vision. I have spoken publicly about my values on many occasions over the years and I will continue to argue for equality and inclusion at every opportunity.”
Wynter's resignation comes after Tate suspended its relationship with one of its most significant donors, the art dealer Anthony d’Offay, after three women came forward with sexual harassment allegations about him in the wake of the #MeToo movement. D’Offay denies the claims.
