On Being A Black Artist – Ronnie McGrath

Ronnie McGrath, Artist Facilitator with Artlift, describes himself as ‘A creator of words and images – a writer and poet who also paints and exhibits,’ discusses with us his experience of being a black artist:

‘Ultimately the term ‘black’, which used to include Asians as well, is a political construct.  In Britain, the term was borne out of racial politics and the struggle for equal rights and justice which continues to this day. Like the notion of race, which came about during the mid-seventeenth century and is a myth devoid of any biological truths, the term ‘black’, a very potent signifier, is just a mutable category. However, it is a category with consequences, whether positive or not, for those who are labeled as such.

To call yourself a black artist, which for me includes writing as well, is to steep your art in a tradition that serves the plight of oppressed peoples. Black art is by default a political art in the same way that art steeped in feminism or the work of someone who identifies as non-binary or queer is.

In art, we are burdened by what we say or what we choose not to say. And art that proclaims to be non-political is a political statement within itself. As the cultural critic Richard Dyer pointed out when talking about ‘whiteness’, power is situated in the norm and so, remains largely invisible.

As a community artist who is employed by Artlift to use art as a therapeutic tool, I have seen the transformative power of art and how it creates healthy communities that bring people together who are otherwise ostracized from society by their poor state of well-being. Here, more than any other space, my blackness, the fact that I identify as a black artist, a black British artist, comes into play.

The nature of being a ‘black’ artist, a ‘conscious’ black artist, affords me with the necessary insight regarding issues concerning diversity, and the political conviction to move beyond an art-for-art-sake approach to creativity. I am not suggesting that I go into the therapeutic space with an agenda to subvert people’s perceptions of race and gender. Important as this is, it is the interest of the community, of creating a safe environment whereby individuals can come together and feel part of a healthy and vibrant community, that matters most.

In my experience, the idea that people are colour-blind, and have no interest in the politics of the day is a fallacy. If we are about healing and using our art to transform society by allowing people to freely express themselves, and in so doing maintain a healthy state of mind, we have to acknowledge the fact that we live in an ableist, sexist, homophobic, and racialized society and my very presence as a ‘black’ artist who works in a predominantly ‘white’ space will inevitably stir people’s curiosity around such issues. I am not suggesting that I can or do speak for everyone. This would be ludicrous as I am a cisgender black British male, who like most people, has blind spots. However, it is the complex nature of my identity, and art, that affords me the necessary insight to see that, like Covid, racism is a pandemic, something which must be gotten rid of if we are serious about an art that truly heals.’

Ronnie McGrath 2022