The Shelburne Museum is reviewing its relationship with an acclaimed architect it hired to design a new Indigenous art center.
The architect, Sir David Adjaye, has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct, the Financial Times reported earlier this week, leading a host of organizations around the world to sever ties with him.
Three former employees accused Adjaye, 56, and his firm of various forms of exploitation, according to the Financial Times. The newspaper published graphic descriptions of the women’s accounts of sexual assault, harassment and manipulation that allegedly occurred in 2018 and 2019.
The Shelburne Museum announced in May that Adjaye would design the Perry Center, which would house a collection of Indigenous art. While other clients have been swift in their moves to cut ties with Adjaye, following the Financial Times report, museum director and CEO Tom Denenberg said in a written statement to VTDigger that the museum has not yet decided on a path forward.
“In light of the serious and troubling allegations reported against David Adjaye, we are actively reviewing our engagement with the architect and his firm,” Denenberg said in the statement.
“Our evaluation places in the fore our immediate commitment to construction of a building and integrated landscape collaboratively designed to create a national resource for the study and care of Indigenous art,” Denenberg said. “Because we are in the earliest stages of design, we have time to consider our next steps to keep this important project on track and honor our commitment to the many partners and collaborators who have been involved in the conceptualization of this important project.”
The women who accused Adjaye — all single Black mothers from well-connected and influential families who were in their 40s at the time of the alleged abuse, the Financial Times reported — have said that the alleged abuse has severely disrupted their careers, finances and mental health.
“I felt overpowered, both emotionally and physically,” wrote one of the women to the Financial Times, which referred to her by the pseudonym “Maya.” “There was this domineering feeling of ‘I’m going to have my way with you, and that’s it.’”
Adjaye denied the allegations in a statement released by Kendal Advisory, a communications and crisis management firm.
“I absolutely reject any claims of sexual misconduct, abuse or criminal wrongdoing,” he said.
Adjaye added that he was “deeply sorry” and “ashamed to say that I entered into relationships which though entirely consensual, blurred the boundaries between my professional and personal lives.” He said he “will be immediately seeking professional help in order to learn from these mistakes to ensure that they never happen again.”
In the wake of the accusations, The New York Times reported that Adjaye has relinquished multiple ceremonial roles and trusteeships, resigning from his position as one of 42 architectural advisers to Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.
Other patrons of Adjaye — including the Studio Museum in Harlem, a British Holocaust memorial and clients ranging from Princeton, New Jersey, to Liverpool, England — have begun to sever relationships with the architect.
The decisions stand in stark contrast to past headlines about Adjaye, who in 2017 knelt at London’s Buckingham Palace as he was awarded knighthood on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. Earlier that year, the architect — whose work includes cultural touchstones such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., Ghana’s national cathedral, an African art museum in Nigeria and a multifaith center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — told Dezeen that he was “embarrassed, as a male” that “women are still fighting for gender parity” in the field of architecture.
As a Ghanaian-British architect, Adjaye has been viewed as a “champion of diversity in a very white profession,” the Financial Times wrote, often publicly voicing a commitment to the rights of underrepresented groups in architecture, including women.
But for the three women who have accused Adjaye of misconduct — which they say included demeaning comments Adjaye made based on their race — such comments are a facade.
“David has been able to hoodwink so many people into believing he is who he says he is. … He does whatever he wants, however he wants,” Maya told the Financial Times.
Correction: An earlier version of this story was imprecise about the timing of the alleged incidents.
