Sweet Sorry

The 80s: Photographing Britain
Tate Britain
21 November 2024 – 5 May 2025

In 2020 Tate Britain finally sealed off the Rex Whistler mural, The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats. This was a picture that included an apparent ‘rare meat’ depicted as a Black child being enslaved by white men and had decorated the dining area of a restaurant in the building for many years. I encountered it for the first time shortly before and was gobsmacked that something so basically in your face old school establishment racist was right there, whilst you munched your over-priced cultural nosh. In 2019, FFS.

It will probably upset the normal wankers at the Telegraph, Spectator and other self-satisfied art experts who see art as a part of cultural heritage in the same way they think the royal family’s ownership of half the UK’s shoreline is a part of the natural order.

by Roshini Kempadoo

Its existence seemed to say something direct about the gallery that was also reflected, then, in its choice of paintings to exhibit. Since then, the gallery has, belatedly, sought to create some redress, by commissioning and exhibiting works by Black artists, including one by Keith Piper in ‘response’ to the mural. This photographic exhibition could also be considered, in part, a response, or, possibly, an awakening. Inevitably and happily it will probably upset the normal wankers at the Telegraph, Spectator and other self-satisfied art experts who see art as a part of cultural heritage in the same way they think the royal family’s ownership of half the UK’s shoreline is a part of the natural order.

And that’s a good thing.

By Zarina Bhimji

Me, I really enjoyed the exhibition. It’s ambitious and focuses on elements of the 1980s that are often glossed over with nostalgia. The raw and visceral class hatred of the Tories is present from both ends. Yes, there are wine bars and big shoulders but the photos show these aspects as grotesque, Grosz-like. Struggle against the racism and attacks on working class lively hoods is well represented. In fact, the show works as a kind of tick list of all the things that were brought in, from American cruise missiles to the closure of the pits and the decimation of massive areas of the country, and provides proof that, no, you’re not crazy, things really were that bad.

But for every nazi skinhead, for every miserable street, for every racist cop there are images that fight back and which represent that fight back. And, yes, proportionally, the Black and Asian presence is very well represented, in the same way that current TV adverts seem to be working on the positive discrimination principle. Good. You can’t change the past but you can try to say sorry and put things right in whichever way is possible.

Bollywood still

Is this the Tate apologising? It might be, unless there has been a revolution at the place, which I doubt. Either way, The 80s: Photographing Britain is a rich, deep dive of an exhibition which will take a good couple of hours to fully digest. Like a Trevor Horn remix album. Or a Norman Lamont speech. Or an evening of fags and cocktails in the new wine bar down the high street.

Visit the Tate Britain website for ticketing, hours and prices here