National Portrait Gallery display withdrawn after Churchill row
The artist’s 40-minute installation had been on display for 10 months before the gallery removed it after complaints and an open letter from more than 50 peers.
- On Monday, the National Portrait Gallery withdrew artist Helen Cammock's 40-minute video installation 'Persistence' following controversy over its portrayal of Sir Winston Churchill's role in the 1943 Bengal famine.
- Churchill biographer Lord Andrew Roberts led an open letter signed by more than 50 peers, claiming the work's assertion of 'wilful starvation' was a 'barefaced lie' and an 'ideologically motivated rant.'
- Cammock, a Turner Prize-winning artist, defended the work as a creative response rather than a documentary, stating that questioning histories is vital to a healthy society despite external pressure.
- The gallery confirmed the withdrawal on Monday, stating it respects Cammock's decision while acknowledging concerns from those offended by claims regarding the famine that killed 3 million people.
- Historians continue to debate the famine's origins; Roberts attributed the disaster to a 1942 typhoon, while others argue British policy failure contributed significantly to the catastrophe.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Artwork removed from London gallery after row about Winston Churchill’s role in Bengal famine
A video installation at London’s National Portrait Gallery has been withdrawn after a controversy erupted over claims about the role of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Bengal famine in colonial India, the BBC reported on Tuesday.The 40-minute video by artist Helen Cammock, titled Persistence, had been on temporary display at the gallery, scheduled to end in August. In the video, which Cammock narrated, she described 17th-c…
The Turner Prize winner of 2019, Helen Cammock, has withdrawn a controversial video installation from the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Churchill starved millions of Indians to death. Artwork on it riles Britishers now
An installation at a London gallery which described former British PM Winston Churchill as responsible for the "wilful starvation" of millions of Indians during the 1943 Bengal Famine, has been removed from the public display. The artist was forced to take the installation off after at least 50 members of the House of Lords, including Chirchill's grandson, protested and demanded its removal.
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