ABSTRACT
Chambers, E. and Morris, L. (1993) Eugene Palmer, Norwich: Norwich Gallery, Norfolk Institute of Art and Design.
Panchal studied in Bombay and participated in a number of exhibitions in India before moving to the UK. Panchal was one of the four Indian artists invited by the India High Commission to undertake major restoration work to damaged murals. He also participated in a number of group exhibitions, before becoming involved with the black art movement in the U K in the mid-1980s. Panchal's most significant involvement with black art came with the Greater London Counc i l s Anti-Racist mural project of 1985. The Council was supportive of black art, which it termed 'ethnic arts' and, during its Anti-Racist year in 1984, decided to commission four murals in sites that were linked to Britain's black and Asian populations. Panchal, along with the young artist Dushka Ahmad, was given what was earmarked as a permanent site in the East End of London, but their idea was rejected as being too inflammatory after consultation with the local community. The mural was subsequently modified to meet local concerns. It is a key example of the increasing problems that the anti-racism movement was experiencing at that time.
