Lubaina Himid

The Carrot Piece

1985

© Lubaina Himid

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In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: Sixty years

Free entry
Artist
Lubaina Himid born 1954
Medium
Acrylic paint on plywood, wood and cardboard, and string
Dimensions
Overall display dimensions variable
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Purchased using funds provided by the 2014 Outset/ Frieze Art Fair Fund to benefit the Tate Collection 2015
Reference
T14192

Online caption

The Carrot Piece shows a white man failing to tempt a black woman with a carrot. Her arms are already full with everything she needs. Himid says that when the work was made, cultural institutions ‘needed to be seen’ to be integrating black people into their programmes and ‘we as black women understood how we were being patronised ... to be cajoled and distracted by silly games and pointless offers. We understood, but we knew what sustained us… and what we really needed to make a positive cultural contribution: self-belief, inherited wisdom, education and love.’

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