V&A East’s plans to shake up the art world with community-inspired museum and storehouse
Gus Casely-Hayford is a man on a mission to open up and diversify the arts sector.
As founding director of V&A East – one of the world’s most significant new museum projects and part of the mayor of London’s £1.1bn Olympic legacy project – he knows that shifting the canon won’t necessarily be easy.
Gus Casely-Hayford plans to speak to around 100,000 young people about his two new arts venues. Pic: Victoria and Albert Museum
Casely-Hayford told Sky News: “There are challenges that we have in this country… Years of museum tradition based around particular narratives.
“There’s a fairly conservative bedrock upon which we have to begin to build new narratives. Think about how we can actually include voices that it may have felt acceptable to marginalise a generation ago.”
Based in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, V&A East will bring two brand new arts venues to East London – a five-storey, 7,000 square meter museum on the waterfront, and a vast glass and brick storehouse, offering more than 250,000 curated items for public view, just a 10-minute walk away.
Balenciaga inspired
Based on an X-Ray of a Balenciaga ballgown, and informally dubbed “the crab”, the museum will form part of a new cultural quarter collectively known as East Bank, nestling alongside a Sadler’s Wells dance theatre, BBC recording and performance studios and UAL’s London College of Fashion.
In a world where many consider the arts to be for the privileged few rather than the many, Casely-Hayford says his bid to highlight under-represented voices is clear cut.
He said: “These are our spaces paid for with our tax money. We should all be getting the benefit.”
Having moved back from the US to take up the role (he was previously director of the Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art in Washington DC), Casely-Hayford has applied a fresh view to the British art scene.
X-ray of a silk taffeta Balenciaga evening dress, Paris, 1954. Pic: Nick Veasey, 2016
He said: “Art is one of the things that we do better than anyone else. You look at the sorts of people who represent us best at the Oscars or in music, and they represent the cultural diversity of our nation.
“I would love it if in the museum sector, if we could really get on board with that, invest in that, but not just do it in terms of the art that we display on our walls, but also the people who curate our spaces.”
The Global South
The museum will collect work from around the world, prioritising issues from the Global South – Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
And far from being a modern obsession or trendy buzzword, Casely-Hayford believes diversity is woven into the very fabric of being British.
An early concept image for V&A East Museum. Pic: JA Projects
He said: “The thing that makes me proud is that we are a diverse nation. You think about our national flag, that we didn’t choose a tricolour.
“We chose a flag which demonstrates the differences and how we come together, that we are a number of different nations. We accept diversity, complexity, and we want our space to be able to tell those stories.
“All of that cultural complexity, the stories of empire, of enslavement, of all these difficult things. But also, the transcendent stories of how through creativity, we can come together as one.
“We can be a single nation that celebrates greatness, goodness, that celebrates the sorts of things that inspire a new generation.”
V&A East Museum in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Pic: Victoria & Albert Museum
‘An engine of transformation’
And he says aside from artists and curator diversity, attention must be turned to both the visitors and staff of the museum too.
“We want to build this institution from the ground up, for and with our local communities. We want it to reflect their need,” he said.
“When it opens in 2025 and you come into our space, I’m hoping that you’ll be welcomed by people who demonstrate the kind of cultural complexity of the people that live in and around this area.”
Not a man to rest on his laurels, he’s quite literally got on his bike to share news of the new spaces to secondary schools in the area, in a bid to talk to 100,000 young people.
It is his ambition that one of the children who walks through the museum doors will go on to have their art on the walls, or even one day claim his job.
Calling the spaces “an engine of transformation”, he wants the younger generation to see the creative industries as a viable profession, as he says, “not from the margins, not feeling they’re part of the peripheral, but right in the bedrock of institutions like V&A East”.
Holding institutions to account
Ahead of these potential new opportunities, emerging artist Heather Agyepong says the last two years have been transformational in black British art, offering her a position of power as an artist for the first time.
Heather Agyepong, visual artist and actor. Pic: Hydar Dewachi
She told Sky News: “I think since George Floyd was murdered, and the black uprisings, there’s been a real thirst and a kind of embarrassment about the lack of black British art in collections.
“In 2020, all of these institutions gave these massive pleas and dedications to include more black British art, which has been amazing. But I think now, two years on, you’re seeing that some of it was a little bit performative, or for optics.
“For me as an artist now, I feel I can hold those intuitions accountable because they made all of these claims, and I can go back and say, ‘what are you doing to address your collections? What are you doing to address the inclusion of black British art?’
“I feel quite empowered now, as an artist moving forward.”
However, she admits she wasn’t always as clued up about the rich heritage of the UK’s black artists.
Ego death at Jerwood Space, supported by Photoworks. Pic: Anna Arca
She said: “I did an MA at Goldsmiths in 2013, and that was my first introduction to black British art, before then, I think I didn’t even know black British artists existed, if I’m honest.
“My course convenor, Paul Halliday, opened my eyes to what that whole movement looked like. And I remember, I was just stunned, and I felt like, ‘why did no one tell me this?’, because I always felt I was by myself. So, that course was really instrumental in understanding the legacy of us as artists.”
‘Small and in the corner’
Speaking about her latest exhibition, Ego Death, which includes oversized fabric triptychs, one inspired by Oscar winning film Get Out, she says: “There’s a thing sometimes about black artists, we feel like we can’t take up space, that we’ve kind of got to be small and in the corner. Be kind of apologetic.”
She credits artists including Turner Prize winning Lubaina Himid, Sonya Boyce and Claudette Johnson – who all came to prominence during the UK Black Arts movement (BAM) of the 1980s – as “paving the way” for her, adding: “I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Lisa Anderson, managing director of the Black Cultural Archives
Lisa Anderson, managing director of the Black Cultural Archives (BCA), also credits the movement with inspiring her to pursue a career in the arts.
For her latest exhibition, Transforming Legacies, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of BAM, she reunited more than 50 artists of African and Caribbean ancestry to recreate the iconic 1958 A Great Day In Harlem photo.
Anderson says improving representation across the board is a matter of teamwork.
“We need allyship as well. We need collaboration from galleries, other researchers, universities, auction houses so that they can validate and support the growth of the work from these artists,” she said.
Black British artists gather for a photograph inspired by Art Kane’s A Great Day in Harlem. Pic: David Kwaw Mensah
Culture wars
As government funding has dried up, sustained support needed to give communities a level footing has dropped away.
But in the face of adversity, Anderson is hopeful: “We’re in the midst of a culture war with some key figures in the government questioning the importance of equality and inclusion and questions of diversity. So, it is very discombobulating.
“But I think the momentum for focus on artists from the African diaspora in a meaningful, inclusive way is something to be hopeful about. I’m definitely going to be joining hands with other organisations, other key leaders within the UK and internationally to keep that going for the long term.
“What would be horrendous, is if 20 years from now, we’re having to have a similar conversation. I don’t want that to be the case. I just want this conversation to expand.”
Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts
V&A East Storehouse will open in 2024 and V&A East Museum will open in spring 2025.
Transforming Legacies is on show at Black Cultural Archives, Brixton, until 31st January 2023.
Heather Agyepong’s, Ego Death exhibition was first shown at the Jerwood Space, London, in 2022 and will tour to Belfast Exposed, Northern Ireland, in 2023. Her solo exhibition, Wish You Were Here, will be showing at the new Centre for British Photography from January and her work will be included in Photo50 at the London Art Fair in the new year. She will also be appearing in Amazon Prime’s forthcoming thriller The Power.
UK
Police investigating alleged attack on prison officer by Southport triple murderer Axel Rudakubana
Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.
Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.
It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help.
Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.
“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.
She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.
“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.
“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’
“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”
Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.
Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.
Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.
Read more from Sky News:
Suspect accused of Derby bank murder appears in court
Man whose body was found in suitcase ‘had raped teenager’
Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.
It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.
According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.
Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to seek help
Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.
In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.
“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.
“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”
Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS
In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.
“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.
“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.
“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”
Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS
Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.
“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”
Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.
“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”
Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS
“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”
Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.
Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.
Bleeding in Kerry’s eye
“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.
“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”
The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.
Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.
Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.
“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.
“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”
Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.
He will be sentenced in July.
If you suspect you are being abused and need to speak to someone, there are people who can help you.
The National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Respect, the helpline for male domestic abuse victims: 0808 8010327
Galop, the LGBT+ anti-violence charity: 0800 999 5428
Two men have been found guilty of cutting down the famous Sycamore Gap tree that stood for more than 150 years.
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were convicted of causing more than £620,000 worth of damage to the tree and more than £1,000 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.
On 27 September 2023, the pair drove 30 miles through a storm to Northumberland from Cumbria, where they both lived, before felling the tree overnight in a matter of minutes.
The Sycamore Gap tree before it was cut down. Pic: CPS
The pair each denied two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it, but were convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday.
The Sycamore Gap tree sat in a dip in the landscape and held a place in pop culture, featuring in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
It also formed part of people’s personal lives, as the scene of wedding proposals, ashes being scattered and countless photographs.
Footage of the moment the tree was felled was played during the trial.
Daniel Graham. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
Adam Carruthers. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
In the clip, the sound of a chainsaw can be heard, and the silhouette of a person can be seen, before the trunk eventually tumbled.
The footage was shot on Graham’s iPhone 13, with the metadata providing the coordinates of the tree.
Part of tree kept as ‘trophy’
Over the course of the trial, the pair blamed one another, but the prosecution argued they were both responsible for what the court heard was a “mindless act of vandalism”.
As well as the video footage of the felling, an image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone.
Adam Carruthers (R) and Daniel Graham (L) worked together felling trees. Pic: CPS/PA
An image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone. Pic: PA
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told the court: “This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.”
Voice notes played in court
The jury was also played voice notes the pair had sent one another, commenting on the media coverage the incident was receiving.
In one of them, Graham, 39, said to 32-year-old Carruthers: “Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like News News News”, before adding: “I think it’s going to go wild.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sycamore Gap seeds saved
Another piece of evidence was a photo of the defendants felling a different tree, about a month before the Sycamore Gap was cut down.
The prosecution said Graham, who owned a groundworks company and Carruthers, who worked in property management and mechanics, were “friends with knowledge and experience in chainsaws and tree felling”.
From the beginning, much of the trial focused on the significance of the tree, with Judge Mrs Justice Lambert telling the jury to put their “emotion to one side” before proceedings began.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Voicenotes from Sycamore Gap tree trial
‘Mindless acts of violence’
Northumberland Superintendent Kevin Waring, of Northumbria Police, said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals”.
Graham and Carruthers gave no explanation for why they targeted the tree, he said, “and there never could be a justifiable one”.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Susan Dungworth, called the felling of the tree “unfathomable” and said, although “there was no remorse [from the defendants], there was compelling evidence, and now there will be justice”.
Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor for CPS North East, said Graham and Carruthers took “under three minutes” to bring down the “iconic landmark” in a “deliberate and mindless act of destruction”.
She said she hoped the community “can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted”.
‘Enormity of the loss’
Reflecting on the verdict and the actions of the pair, Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Parks Authority, said: “It just took a few days to sink in – I think because of the enormity of the loss.
“We knew how important that location was for many people at an emotional level, almost at a spiritual level in terms of people’s connection to this case.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Moment Sycamore Gap tree cut down
Read more from the trial:
Two men went on ‘moronic mission’ to fell Sycamore Gap tree
Man told police he was being ‘framed’ over tree felling
Defendant says friend wanted to cut down world’s ‘most famous tree’
Jurors played voicenotes in Sycamore Gap tree trial
The tree’s stump still sits by Hadrian’s Wall, where new shoots have been emerging.
Its largest remaining section will go on display at the National Landscape Discovery Centre in the Northumberland National Park later this year.
The effort to preserve the tree’s legacy also goes beyond the region where it stood.
Forty-nine saplings taken from the tree have been conserved by the National Trust. They will be planted in accessible public spaces across the country as “trees of hope”, which will allow parts of the Sycamore Gap to live on.
The defendants, who didn’t react when the verdicts were delivered, will be sentenced in July.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway