In 1989, London’s Hayward Gallery organized an exhibit of Indian and Pakistani artists. Somehow, they lost or damaged 300 of Iqbal Geoffrey’s works, and Geoffrey says he only found out in 1993. Now, sixteen years later, he’s bringing a lawsuit, claiming that the loss was due to racism, and seeking 65 million pounds in damages. This is presumably meant to be a punitive amount, since his works are generally priced at 786 euros, and were likely insured for the 65,000 pounds the museum offered in compensation. Geoffrey is demanding polygraph tests of museum employees. (Jamie Doward, “Artist accuses top gallery of racial prejudice”, The Observer, Jan. 16).
The previous claim to fame of Geoffrey, a lawyer with an LLM from Harvard, was asking Pakistani courts to halt the Virginia execution of admitted murderer Mir Amail Kasi, who assassinated two people in a terrorist attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993. Geoffrey, who calls himself the world’s greatest living artist, is also apparently known in the Pakistani community as a frequent litigant, including a lawsuit for $800 million or so in rupees for a different perceived slight in 1998. (Khalid Hasan, “Sir Geoffrey the Great”, Friday Times, Jul. 19, 2002). Update Feb. 13: letter to the editor with response from Geoffrey.
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