The demographics of Britain has changed drastically since the 1950s. During the last two censuses there has been a marked increase in the minority ethnic population.
The late 1980s were times of great radical and social change. The political atmosphere in the late 1970s was moving to the right and racist ideas were becoming more acceptable. Within this climate there was also great resistance and in 1977 the Anti-Nazi League was formed with the intention of marginalising the National Front. Within the music industry and in collaboration with the Anti-Nazi League, Rock Against Racism was formed. This was the first modern anti-racist movement to have been built on the foundation of music.
It was during this time that it was also a defining period of art practice for many black, Asian and women artists. They were demanding to have their work viewed and their opinions regarded as equal within traditional art forums. This time saw the start of exhibitions showing the work of minority ethic artists. Nowadays this is not unusual and many museums and galleries have minority ethnic led exhibitions in their programmes.
