Intro.
Q. How did you first meet Donald Rodney?
Q. What would Donald Rodney have thought about having his archives donated to Tate?
Q. What was Donald Rodney's involvement in the Black Art movement of the 1980s?
Q. What was Donald Rodney's work about when you met him?
Q. What key themes underpin Donald Rodney's work?
Q. How do you feel about Black History Month?

Q. What was Donald Rodney's involvement in the Black Art movement of the 1980s?

Eddie Chambers

Was there a Black Art movement of the 1980s? Donald took part in several exhibitions of young Black artists' work that took place between 1982 and 1984. Subsequently, he exhibited in a range of exhibitions throughout the rest of that decade. During this time, one of his most important exhibitions took place at The Black-Art Gallery in north London.

Elizabeth Ann McGregor

I think I came across Donald's work as part of the Pan-Afrikan connection with Keith Piper and Eddie Chambers, probably at the Black-Art Gallery in London. He was very much a part of the early 80's black art movement, campaigning for greater recognition of the work of African Caribbean and Asian artists, setting out a new agenda for black artists that would galvanise the visual arts sector to reconsider responses to artists from different cultural backgrounds. He was an activist but his highly intelligent use of appropriation and his own body gave him a distinctive voice. His later work became more elegiac, less obviously confrontational but nonetheless powerful and hard hitting.

Mark Sealy

Along with Donald, Keith Piper, Eddie Chambers and people like Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Himid. Those characters in my view are really quite seminal in terms of beginning to create an articulate voice and if you like, into problematizing and even terrorizing the institutions into recognizing that there are issues about diversity that need to be looked at in this country. They understood issues of inclusion and exclusion, they were talking about this twenty years ago and it is ironic that these issues are still with us.

We are still behind the times but at the same time progress has been made. There are developments and if we look around the art scene it certainly is more diverse than it was twenty years ago. There are some great success stories people like Isaac Julien and Chris Ofili. Internationally, people are getting a lot more visibility and there is certainly a lot of interest in cities like London where diversity has become its pop branding tune, which it is using to sell itself to the world. There is a huge difference in the cultural landscape now.

Marlene Smith

This is a huge question. He was a member of the Blk Art Group which during its time organised two national conventions on black art, as well as exhibitions at several galleries around the country and many seminars and presentations. The work of the group, the very fact of it existing, had an impact on both the world of curators and cultural theorists and on other artists at the time and subsequently.

He produced a massive body of work, experimenting with form and approach, constantly questioning what art is for and how to make it. I have seldom met an artist more completely dedicated to his practice or more committed to the profession.

Just as important, though more difficult to document and quantify, was his relationship with other practitioners, theorists, curators and students. For example students Amanda Holiday and Mowbray Odonkor organised a black art students group that Donald attended whilst he was at the Slade. He was always approaching other artists and students, always wanting to discuss the work

Donald spoke very passionately and articulately about his work (and the work of others),he had a very profound sense of the role of art and culture in society, was an enthusiastic consumer/hoarder/collector.