Artivism

Amar Singh is passionate about minority voices gaining visibility in the art world. He tells Tatler how he fuses his passions for art and activism while championing female artists and LGBTQ+ causes

- Aaina Bhargava

"It's still not diverse enough," says art dealer and activist Amar Singh of the art world. But he is part of a movement calling for better representation and the decolonisation of art history. "We're just at the beginning."

For a long time, the programming at museums and galleries has championed straight, white, male artists and reflected the dominant trend throughout art history. In recent years, however, an increased demand for works by female artists, LGBTQ+ artists, and artists of colour has resulted in a significant inflation in both their monetary and cultural value. Art institutions have been forced to seriously reconsider the diversity of their collections and artist rosters. While this socio-cultural reckoning has gained immense traction (fuelled further by the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter cultural movements), Singh hopes that curators and gallerists who are beginning to promote these underrepresented groups of artists are motivated beyond fleeting market trends.

"It takes an elongated approach to build the careers of artists; significant time investment has been put into the Rothkos and Lichtensteins of the world," says Singh. "It has not been put into the Kerry James Marshalls or Joan Mitchells of the world," he adds, referring to the creator of the highest-selling artwork by a living black artist and one of the top-selling female artists, respectively.

Until recently, when museums started acquiring works by female artists, and the value of those works increased in the market, women were overlooked for their contributions to art history simply because they were women. Singh wants to do his part: changing that.