Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent

Art ✔️ Beach ✔️ check Sunshine - erm

Some of us may have gone wild coming out of the latest lockdown and rushed to get back to pre-March 2020 lifestyles. Others (like me) are still gently easing their way back into whatever our “new normal” may be.

We’re still in the midst of it all, so for me, I’m just taking it day by day; hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst. It’s a lot, but I’m still here, and if you’re reading this, so are you.

So I had a chat with myself and concluded that whatever I did coming out of lockdown would be how I would spend the rest of the year. That would be immersing myself in art, coffee, books, and lots of day trips in the UK, especially if it involves a beach.

I went to Margate last summer for the first time since I was a kid. It was my first-day trip coming out of the first lockdown, and I had a great day and knew I would be back again soon. Mostly because the Turner was still closed when I went, but I knew that I would be back in Margate as soon as it reopened. I have even considered viewing some of the new beachfront apartments that are for sale. Well, it’s only 1 hour and 20 minutes from east London, where I live now.

Getting out of the station at Margate is a bit like stepping back in time but in a more modern and diverse period. On a walk through the town before going to the same brunch spot I went to last year, it's clear that Margate (well, maybe just the seafront and surrounding area, as I haven’t ventured any further) is a place that promotes inclusivity. It was in the month of June which is Pride month in the UK but walking around, you instantly know that this isn’t just for Pride or just for the moment.

Sitting at the brunch spot, making my way through the best green smoothie I’ve ever had and a slice of cake, I relaxed whilst people-watching. Quite a few people were heading up the seafront towards the Turner, and I knew many people had come to Margate for the same reasons I had. It’s not as diverse as London, but I wasn’t the only Black woman who had headed to the Turner for the day. I was there to view the works of a Black artist, Barbara Walker, and I am sure many others were there for the same reason, to see ourselves reflected in her work. I had also come to pick up some books from the second-hand bookshop, but the exhibition was the main draw.

More and more of the work of Black artists is making its way into the mainstream and disrupting the spaces that have kept representation and the nuances of a Black culture firmly locked outside. To see our hair, bodies, skin, and faces in places that were non-existent for me whilst growing up and most of my life is so visually powerful that it shakes you from the inside out. Well, it does for me, anyway.

That other Black people get to see themselves without it being (too) controlled by another culture is a powerful experience. An added bonus is that other cultures get to experience us through our lens and experience. Although the sadness is not lost on me that this is one of the few ways we can be humanised - through art.

Barbara Walker’s Place, Space, and Who exhibition was stunning, beautiful, bold, and empowering. Not only that it was exhibited at the Turner, which is a great achievement, but her creation was beaming down and in full scale on everyone that went to see it. All of the women looked familiar to me. I saw myself in them and my family, too, as I looked up at all of them., from the hair textures and styles to the shapes of the women. She made us visible to show that we belong, Everywhere. Such a talented artist and more than worth a train ride all the way to Margate.

Making my way around the rest of the exhibition, I stopped a couple of times to read Turner’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist organisation. I haven’t seen this openly promoted as much in space, and all the performative statements in 2020 have not amounted to much or, in most cases, anything other than black squares. They seem committed to the Turner trying to make a difference. It felt that way for me from the exhibitions and the statements that were on display as you walked around. I would keep an eye down the line to see what they continue to do.

The next exhibition was by Steve McQueen’s titled Ashes. I didn’t know that this exhibition was on. I was just focused on going to see Barbara Walker’s work but to experience more of Steve McQueen’s work was a huge bonus.

Walking away from this exhibition and the video of Ashes and how young he was made me think of all the young lives not fully lived and gone before they even began. Ashes died at the age of 25 in Grenada. Thanks to Steve and a friend of Ashes’, he was given a homegoing and proper headstone. Everyone who attended this exhibition and watched the video got to be a part of this. It was touching and heartbreaking, and we will never know what Ashes would have become and given to the world.

And then there was Ellen Harvey’s Beautification Project. Her art was pretty, detailed, and tiny, and she had her experience of the project weaved through the accompanying text. Harvey’s landscapes were painted on buildings already covered with graffiti in New York City, which is against the current law.

Was she arrested? No. This was the intention of her project. This was to show that her being a white female artist illegally creating art on buildings would be viewed differently to artists of colour who create art in the same spaces, which is seen and treated as a criminal act. I like that she used her unfair and unearned privilege to show the level of racial disparity everywhere.

Ellen Harvey, NY Beautification Project copy.jpg

Ellen Harvey, NY Beautification Project(1) copy.jpg

And just when you think you have seen everything, there is more. A final exhibition to round off the day was created by a local school. Their exhibition was on how to save planet Earth and make it a better place.

Art, Diversity & Representation, Second Hand Book Shops, Fish and Chips, and Retro Shops are all on the seafront. I visited the Shell Grotto in 2020, and my next visit will include visiting the caves.

If you are looking for a place to visit while we can, a trip to the Turner should surely make your list and the rest of Margate. The arcades are still in effect for those wanting some 1980s nostalgia. There is a lot you can do in a day or on the weekend. I can’t wait for my next visit.

From the importance of Art to Black Lives Matters to Sustainability - the children have spoken and are right - The Future Is Up To Us.

What are We going to do about it??