Artist withdraws National Portrait Gallery installation after Winston Churchill famine row
The artist behind the National Portrait Gallery installation that sparked controversy over Sir Winston Churchill’s role in the famine in Bengal has withdrawn his work.
Helen Cammock said there was “incredible pressure on artists and arts institutions to bow to external pressure” and that the decision to remove the work was “not taken lightly”.
40 minute video titled Permanence, He claimed that Churchill resorted to “deliberate” mass starvation as part of the Bengal famine of 1943.
It sparked controversy when historian and former gallery trustee Andrew Roberts wrote to protest the video installation “in the strongest possible terms”, claiming the accusation was “disgusting and despicable” and a “blatant lie”.
His letter was signed by more than 50 members of the House of Lords, including Churchill’s grandson Nicholas Soames and Michael Hintze, who was a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 2017 to 2021.
The gallery said Cammock’s work “is presented as an artistic work, not a documentary, and the views expressed in the film do not necessarily reflect the views of the NPG.”
Churchill’s role in the Bengal famine, which killed an estimated three million people, is hotly debated by historians.
Lord Roberts wrote: Churchill: Walking with DestinyHe claimed that the Bengal famine was caused by a typhoon on October 16, 1942, which destroyed not only rice crops but also road and rail links used to bring food to the region. An estimated 3 million people died due to the Bengal famine.
He suggests that Churchill told the war cabinet: “The severe pressures of the world war have brought, for the first time in many years, famine conditions in India, amounting to actual famine in some areas. Every effort must be made to deal with local shortages, even by diversion of shipping urgently needed for war purposes.”
Churchill also asked President Roosevelt and the prime ministers of Canada and Australia to send hundreds of thousands of tons of grain.
“If he were the genocidal maniac that Ms. Cammock describes in her taxpayer-funded remarks against one of our greatest national heroes, he would not have done this,” Professor Shearer, interim chairman of the trustees, wrote in a letter to West.
But researchers in India and the US concluded in 2019 that the Bengal famine was caused by “a complete policy failure during the British period”.
In a statement, Cammock said the work was “not a documentary” but a creative work that “explores ideas and reflections in response to the National Portrait Gallery, its collection and archives.”
He added: “Nina Simone once said: ‘To me, the job of an artist is to reflect the times,’ and that sometimes means revisiting, investigating and challenging. The National Portrait Gallery is an incredibly important public resource, and so it is vital that it continues to engage in dialogue about the works it preserves and their historical significance.”
The gallery confirmed that Cammock had withdrawn the film and said it “respected” his decision, “just as we accept the views of those who were offended by what was said in the film”.
“The aim of this project was to give artists the opportunity to create works that provide personal and creative responses to our Collection,” a spokesperson added.
“NPG is a museum of both art and history; while we respect artistic expression, we also recognize the legacy of those depicted on our walls. We remain focused on our mission to reach and inspire national and international audiences through portraits and stories of our shared history.”
