Maria Balshaw courtesy Johnnie Shand Kydd
Tate director Maria Balshaw opens up in the latest episode of Desert Island Discs, the hugely popular BBC Radio 4 programme which invites high-profile guests to choose their eight favourite tracks for an imaginary stint as an island castaway. Balshaw plumps for Billy Braggs Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards and David Bowies Wild is the Wind, among others, along with Its a Sin by the Pet Shop Boys, prompting the memorable line: “The real reason [the latter] is on my list is because dancing to the Pet Shop Boys music in gay clubs was how I spent my teenage years—absolutely epic disco.”
The revelations come thick and fast: how her passion for art was ignited by seeing Cornelia Parkers Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View at Chisenhale Gallery in London in 1991; the special place Tate Liverpool holds for her—“it became my local, I nursed student hangovers in the gallery”; and why her clothes are “her armour”. Indeed, fashion and the issue of Balshaws “clashing clothes” pop up, sparking debate about the exasperating endless commentaries on her fashion choices.
“Since Ive been at Tate, I have fully embraced my sense of trainers with the dress,” she stresses, reflecting “that after all the years Ive worked in museums, I am qualified for the job even though I still have a sense of impostor anxiety”. Balshaw is very candid and open, touching on tragic aspects such as losing her father recently and the pain of three miscarriages. The thorny topic of 200 possible redundancies at Tate Enterprises also comes up. “We have used as much of our own reserves as we can to preserve the jobs throughoutRead More – Source
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