Me and Ché and the V & A

7 June 2006
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Martin McGuinness is forever getting invited to all kinds of events. Dinner parties, garden fêtes, school openings, weddings, farmers' markets, art exhibitions, solemn novenas, Shawaddywaddy concerts, christenings, fly-fishing contests, book launches, organic-baking promos, musical gigs of all kinds. Me? I rarely get invited to anything. Well that's not strictly true. I do get invited to things. But I never get invited to the kind of things Martin gets invited to. You know what I mean? I mean the type of thing you might just go to and enjoy?

Then things started to look up.

A month or so ago, one of my friends, Trisha Ziff, told me she was inviting me to the opening of her latest exhibition in London.

Trisha Ziff is a freelance curator, based in Mexico. Her work is critically acclaimed and has included an exhibition on Bloody Sunday. She had told me before of her latest venture which has been years in the making. It focuses on the photograph of Ché Guevara taken by Alberto Diaz Korda in 1960. Trisha's exhibition contains posters, film, photographs, fine art and clothing, all inspired by that image.

"Ah-ha" I exclaimed to Richard Mc Auley, "I would love to get to this."

Martin, eat your heart out, I thought to myself.

"We can't go," Richard told me. "That's the date we go to the Basque country."

And that was that. Or so we thought.

We reckoned without the English Queen, Victoria. Well that's not fair. Victoria has been dead for eons. But her spirit lives on. You see the exhibition is in the Victoria and Albert (V and A) Museum in London. And when they got the invitation list with my name on it they said "NO" in a tone that would have made Ian Paisley blush.

"NO" they said "DELETE THIS NAME. IT IS NOT RELEVANT OR APPROPRIATE."

"Ah so…" said Trisha. "This is nothing but the same old story. I can invite whoever I want. It's my exhibition."

"It's our museum," said Victoria. "Yes ma'am," said Albert.

Adams is barred or words to that effect, they told Trisha.

"Why?" said she.

"Why? Why? What do you mean? Why? We say so …. that's why."

So Trisha phoned me in high dudgeon.

"The V and A have barred you," she explained.

"Who?"

"The Victoria and Albert."

"Ah so..." I said. "It's probably because my name isn't Martin."

"What?" asked Trisha.

"Nothing," I said. "I can't go anyway."

"That's not the point."

"I know."

So Trisha was resolved to take on the V and A. Fair play to you, I said. Victoria was the Famine Queen.

Later on I thought to myself, in the way that we Irish do occasionally. We are great caster uppers. And with good reason.

The Victoria and Albert museum was established in 1852. Victoria was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India at that time. A million people died on this island during her reign.

Another million emigrated. An Gorta Mór, the great hunger, was accompanied by widespread evictions and land clearances. And all the time food was exported from here.

That was probably about the time that Ché's people left Ireland. He traces his family connections to this island.

Anyway, back at the V and A, they were giving Trisha various "reasons" why I should not be in attendance. These included: "A number of models and actresses from the 60s, as well as a number of the fashion press" will be present. "Having Gerry Adams there may not be appropriate."

Later she was told that the museum has a policy of not inviting politicians. Later again it transpired that Ken Livingstone had been asked to open the exhibition.

Trisha Ziff was undaunted. "The photograph of Ché is the most reproduced image in history," she said, "but it still has power."

"You just can't turn Ché Guevara into a commodity. He represents ideas and a belief system... You can't just turn him into a design image."

Eventually Trisha won her point. The V and A accepted that I could go as her personal guest. When her exhibition was in Mexico City museum, attendance increased eight-fold. In Los Angeles there were protests by right-wing Cubans. In London the broadsheets have all covered the row over the V and A's attitude to my attendance.

I hope the Ché exhibition does well. In fact I'm sure it will. She's no stranger to the old habits of the British establishment. Funny thing is, on the basis of the V and A's assertion that it doesn't invite politicians to its events, Ché, if he was alive, would be barred from his own exhibition.

But then at least that means that Martin McGuinness can't go either.

? More: Ché Guevara, Revolutionary and Icon is on exhibition at the Victoria and Albert between 7 June and 28 August. www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1541_che/

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