s- This is one of the most racist things I have seen in my life. And that says something.
That is what the Zimbabwe-born architectural designer and researcher Thandi Loewenson tells The Guardian.
The Royal Institute of British Architetct’s (RIBA’s) headquarters are on Portland Place, surrounded by embassies consulates and oligarch estates. But it’s not the pompous building the African-born designer has noticed.
She talks about the “hidden” mural.
– Something is missing
The mural has been there since 1934, but few may have noticed, writes The Guardian. According to the newspaper, it appears very anonymous, poorly lit and “dirty” in the hall.
However, a closer look reveals the following, according to the newspaper:
STORSLÅTT: The main building of The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), is located in the fine area of Portland Place in London. Photo: NTB
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“Groups of half-naked figures from all corners of the British Empire, cartoonishly depicted as primitive savages with exaggerated features, huddled together in anxious submission”.
In the center of the picture is a faceless RIBA council and the symbolic buildings of the British Empire in the country’s former colonies, including the Parliament in Pretoria in South Africa, the Viceroy’s Palace in New Delhi, India, and the former government building in Canberra, Australia.
Many of these buildings were designed by members of RIBA, RIBA writes on its website.
But something is missing, says Loewenson.
– What is missing are the actual areas of material extraction – the mines, the farms, the plantations and the prisons, the places where all this wealth was taken by force.
– The largest in Norway
New art project
The RIBA itself has criticized the picture that hangs in their headquarters.
Now Loewenson and several other designers from former colonies have been commissioned to create a new painting to cover the old one. This as part of an art project that opens this week.
A number of proposals that highlight the dark sides of the colonial era are among what will be displayed above and around the mural.
Architectural historian and head of the London School of Architecture, Neal Shasore, is advising the RIBA on the conservation of the historic building.
He tells The Guardian that this art project is not just an exercise in “institutional self-flagellation”, but that he hopes the image he calls “extremely racist” will be taken down permanently.
