PLAYING THE RACE CARD
PLAYING THE RACE CARD
Playing the Race Card was started by local Hastings resident Claudine Eccleston in response to her own experiences of the term ‘playing the race card’.
During the lockdown in 2020 PTRC launched a call-out to UK artists who identify as black to submit artworks responding to perceptions or experiences relating to the concept of the race card. The submitted works were displayed in an online gallery.
In October 2022 many of the artworks, plus some additional pieces, were exhibited in Good Stuff in St Leonads’ community space in St Leonards.
Shaped by a Working Group of local residents and led by Project Manager Lorna Hamilton-Brown the exhibition featured 25 contemporary Black artists' response to the powerful term ‘playing the race card’ and its complex implications.
There was a series of wrap around events as part of the 2022 Playing the Race Card exhibition, including a workshop for young people and a panel discussion with exhibiting artists.
Over 600 people attended the exhibition over the three weekends it was open. Conversations were started and space was created, both of which the PTRC team plan on continuing through 2023 and beyond.
More information can be found on the dedicated Playing the Race Card website
INITIAL CALLOUT
Below you can read the initial callout for artworks in 2020 -When black people call out racism, they are too often blamed for being over sensitive or even accused of using sensitivities around race to their advantage.
‘Playing the Race Card’ is a call out to UK artists who identify as black to submit artworks responding to perceptions or experiences relating to the concept of the race card.
Asking artists to consider how this problematic metaphor can be turned on its head, and explore ideas that replace a culture of victim blaming with a celebration of diversity.
“It is our hope that the ingenuity of the UK's creative community will help to raise awareness of this discussion and work towards rendering this phrase extinct.” Claudine Ecclestone, Founder of Playing the Race Card
All entries will be displayed as part of a digital exhibition launching on Martin Luther King Day, the 17th January 2021. Following a public vote, one winning entry will win a £500 cash prize, with five runners up each winning £100.
The project is open to all forms of visual art and can be entered by any UK resident who identifies as black, including people whose ancestral origins are African, South and East Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Romany, the indigenous people of the South Pacific Islands, the American continents, Australia and New Zealand.
More information can be found on the dedicated Playing the Race Card website
Further info
Playing the Race Card is a community project led by local residents who have formed a voluntary run Working Group to help shape the vision of the project. The project is further supported by Black Butterfly, a not for profit creative organisation based in Hastings raising awareness of equalities issues and engaging communities to come together through creative art activities.
If you are interested in being involved helping make this project happen, please email hannah@goodstuffinstlens.com