British Chinese artists call for boycott of ‘racist’ Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art
- Centre in Manchester appoints white people to top jobs, doesn’t require staff to speak Chinese, and all but one non-white board member has quit, artists say
- As Chinese in the UK they can’t ‘get a word in on how we want our culture represented’, one says. Centre says it is ‘listening to the criticisms’
British artists of Chinese heritage are calling for a boycott of the long-established Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) in Manchester, northern England, amid allegations of “deep-rooted” institutional racism.
The seven artists in question – Eelyn Lee, Enoch Cheng, Erika Tan, Gayle Chong Kwan, Jack Tan, Whiskey Chow and Yuen Ling Fong – were recruited by the CFCCA last September to address concerns over lack of representation in the decision-making process.
But six months later, the so-called “revisioning process” was abruptly halted by the centre, and the seven artists have since called for the resignation of the board and senior management, as well as for Arts Council England to stop funding the charity.
“It’s so Orientalist,” said one of the members of the artist working group, artist Jack Tan. “No one who has lived the experience of being Chinese in the UK can get a word in on how we want our culture represented. You would never accept an all-male staff looking after a women’s organisation, so why would we accept a Chinese organisation like this?” he says.
