Royal Academy apologises to feminist artist for cancelling her over blog post calling woman ‘an adult human female’ and says it will ‘reopen discussions’ about restocking her work in gift shop

• Jess de Wahls had work pulled from the RA’s gift shop amid backlash to an essay 
• She had criticised ‘gender identity ideology’ and LGBT charity Stonewall in 2019
• RA has now apologised to artist and said it will ‘reopen discussions’ about stock 

The Royal Academy of Arts has apologised to a feminist artist after her work was withdrawn from its gift shop following furious backlash over comments she made in a blog post about sex and gender in 2019. 

The institution pulled the work of Jess de Wahls, a textile artist born in East Berlin, from its store after activists accused her of expressing ‘transphobic views’ in an essay posted to her website two years ago.

Miss de Wahls had criticised ‘gender identity ideology’ and Stonewall, the controversial LGBT organisation which has been accused of fostering a climate of intolerance in workplaces across the UK.

She also warned that the ‘ideology’ of gender politics enforced censorship akin to that found in her birthplace – the East German police state – and had a detrimental impact on the rights of women and girls. 

The RA was later accused of breaching the Equality Act by removing the embroidered flowers from sale following backlash to the essay, in which the artist called a woman ‘an adult human female’.     

Miss de Wahls condemned the institution as ‘insane’ and claimed it had ‘dumped’ her in the ‘centre of a s***storm’. 

However, the RA has since accepted it ‘should have handled [the situation] better’ and confirmed it has issued an apology to Miss de Wahls.   

The Royal Academy of Arts pulled the work of Jess de Wahls (above), a textile artist born in East Berlin, from its gift shop after activists accused her of expressing ‘transphobic views’ in an essay posted to her website two years ago

In a statement, it said: ‘There has been a great deal of debate around the RA’s recent communication about no longer stocking the work of Jess de Wahls in the Royal Academy shop. 

‘We have thought long and hard since then about this and the wider issues it raises.

‘One thing is clear to us now – we should have handled this better. We have apologised to Jess de Wahls for the way we have treated her and do so again publicly now. We had no right to judge her views on our social media. 

‘This betrayed our most important core value – the protection of free speech.

‘There was also a failure of communications internally which resulted in Jess de Wahls first hearing via social media that we would no longer stock her product in the RA shop. We will now reopen discussions with her regarding the restocking of her work.

‘Plurality of voices, tolerance and free thinking are at the core of what we stand for and seek to protect. 

 Miss de Wahls had criticised ‘gender identity ideology’ and Stonewall, the controversial LGBT organisation which has been accused of fostering a climate of intolerance in workplaces across the UK. Pictured: The RA in London

The Royal Academy earlier posted a message on its Instagram stories saying: ‘Thank you to all those for bringing an item in the RA shop by an artist expressing transphobic views to our attention’

‘These events raise some fundamental issues. Freedom of expression can open up debate, create empathy or respect for difference, it can also at times cause hurt and outrage. 

‘This has confirmed to us our commitment to freedom of expression and to addressing complex issues through engagement and debate.

‘We will continue to reflect on this and to look at our internal processes to ensure we learn from it. We want to make sure we navigate this better in future’.

It comes after the artist said earlier this week that she had noticed ‘a mob’ being ‘mounted against’ her on social media following a blog published in 2019.

The comments led to accusations of transphobia, which the artist denied.

Her embroidery work was removed from the Royal Academy gift shop, with the artist saying she was contacted by officials from the academy, who told her they were investigating, and she had responded.

The Royal Academy had posted a message on its Instagram stories saying: ‘Thank you to all those for bringing an item in the RA shop by an artist expressing transphobic views to our attention.’

It also confirmed it had received complaints for selling works ‘by an artist expressing transphobic views’ and said that Miss de Wahls’s work ‘will not be stocked in future’.

The academy added: ‘The RA is committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and does not knowingly support artists who act in conflict with these values. We would like to reiterate that we stand with the LGBTQ+ community’.  

Earlier this week, De Wahls told BBC Radio 4: ‘They contacted me the day after they posted it on social media. There was no point to that conversation… I don’t know what they were looking for.’

In the blog post on her website, written in 2019 and headlined ‘Somewhere over the rainbow, something went terribly wrong…’, the artist wrote she wanted to ‘articulate my personal beliefs, so that I can defend and advocate for them.

The RA has since accepted it ‘should have handled [the situation] better’ and confirmed it has issued an apology to Miss de Wahls (above)

‘I feel no animosity towards people who hold different beliefs to me, be they religious, gender identity ideology or any other kind of faith, and I hope you can extend the same courtesy to me’.

In the lengthy post, she explained: ‘I have no issue with somebody who feels more comfortable expressing themselves as if they are the other sex (or in whatever way they please for that matter).

‘However, I cannot accept people’s unsubstantiated assertions that they are in fact the opposite sex to when they were born and deserve to be extended the same rights as if they were born as such.’

The campaign groups Sex Matters later called on the director of the RA to reinstate Miss de Wahls’ works and apologise to the artist.

In a letter, they claimed the decision to pull her work came after a ‘handful of coordinated complaints’, adding: ‘The Royal Academy is carrying out an egregious and blatant belief discrimination against textile artist Jess de Wahls.’  

Miss de Wahls is a textile artist who makes embroidered portraits, often dealing with feminism. Her work was sold in the RA gift shop, where prints of controversial artists have previously been made available for sale.

Prints of the work of Paul Gauguin, who reportedly had sexual relationships with young girls, were sold during the 2020 exhibition Gauguin and the Impressionists.

Eric Gill, an artist and sculptor now known to have sexually abused his daughters, was an associate of the RA during his lifetime.

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