"Seated" is a sculpture on Bexhill seafront, overlooking the English channel. Artist and creator Tschabalala Self explains, "It's about one's right to sit, one's right to claim space and time for themselves. And it's really about how even the most quotidian gestures can become politicised in one's identity politics through one's blackness."
What does quotidian mean? (ordinary, normal, "nothing to see here")
What do you think Tschabalala is showing people with her sculpture?
Last month vandals spray-painted the sculpture white. In response, the museum who owned the sculpture covered it from view.
A discussion emerged about how to respond to the vandalism. Tschabalala said, "That something as relatively innocuous as a sculpture of a woman in a sun hat and sundress, siting on a chair, can provoke this level of rage and animosity is, in my opinion, solely because the woman is black."
What do you think the different options were for the museum after the vandalism?
Some argued for an anti-racist protest.
Tschabalala argued the sculpture should be uncovered despite the vandalism. She felt the cover-up provoked more anxiety and fear. Instead, she suggested the museum asked the local community to help her restore the sculpture.
"I asked the museum to uncover the sculpture so everyone could fully absorb and digest what had happened, and to allow people to participate in the restoration of the sculpture... I felt like, at the end of the day, people would visually see how their actions were able to counteract this gesture of hate."
What do you think happened next?
Over 300 people queued to help restore the sculpture. Tshabalala said, "Every single person that touched the sculpture, their had will forever be embedded in that artwork, and now the work is really owned by that community in a way that it never would have been if not for that incident.... it's truly a public art sculpture in a way I would never have imagined it to be."
Tschabalala said she felt the restoration was empowering for the community, who might have been scared or upset by the vandalism; "The sculpture has this immense power now because of this event - not because of the vandalism but because of the community restoration. It has been charged with all this energy from all those individuals who have now become part of the artwork"
"These are the dialogues I wanted to have, this is the kind of awareness that I wanted to bring around the unique experiences of black women and black bodies."
- What is a sculpture, what is art?
- "It's about one's right to sit, one's right to claim space and time for themselves." what does this mean?
- "It's really about how even the most quotidian gestures can become politicised in one's identity politics through one's blackness." what does this mean? What are identity politics?
- Why do you think the vandalism happened?
- Tschabalala argues the vandalism happened because the woman is black; do you agree? (you could argue the vandalism happened because of racism; is that the same thing?)
- What do you think the person who vandalised the sculpture understands about diversity and living in Britain today; what message would you give to them?
- Some people agued for a protest; what are the arguments for and against that response to the vandalism?
- Why do you think Tschabalala argued for a community restoration?
- "I felt like, at the end of the day, people would visually see how their actions were able to counteract this gesture of hate." what does this mean? Would a protest have the same effect?
- over 300 people turned up. What does this show about the people living in that community?
- "Every single person that touched the sculpture, their had will forever be embedded in that artwork" - how?
-"Now the work is really owned by that community" explain this
- what does empowering mean? How has the community been empowered?
- Tschabalala talks about wanted to have dialogues and to bring around awareness. Why do you think this is so important to her?
- Do you think the vandals might come back? How do we stop vandalism like that happening in the future? (education, dialogue, everyone understanding about diversity)
- if the vandals come back, Tschabalala could make the woman in the sculpture white, then they would leave it alone. Is that the answer?
- what can we learn from Tschabalala and from this story?
- why is this about no outsiders?
