A visit to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Last week, three of us from the Museum of English Rural Life and Reading Museum set off on a research visit to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery with a specific aim in mind: looking at their current exhibitions The past is now, Coming out, and Knights of the Raj.
The two main reasons we wanted to look at these current exhibitions are:
- because Reading Museum are currently redeveloping some galleries and we hoped this visit would yield fruitful ideas and how best to work with local communities and the public to co-curate displays and exhibitions that will be both meaningful and impactful.
- that the visit would inform and expand our perspective on diversity issues that currently affect the cultural heritage sector, and in particular the lack of representative diverse audiences as museum visitors, researchers or staff members.
You may be wondering, was the mission successful and was it worthwhile? Well, my friends, let me tell you.
The visit was short-lived, but we made the most of the time available. Our train journey to Birmingham was delayed, albeit not because of a technical issue but because someone was trespassing on the tracks! What a start to our well-meaning trip!
It was only a fifteen-minute walk from Birmingham New Street station to reach the magnificent building and grand entrance to the museum and art gallery. Once we arrived at our destination, we lost no time in finding the exhibitions.
Our visit started with the Knights of the Raj exhibition, which was informative and interesting. I was very impressed to find out later that the exhibition was curated not by the museum curators, but through a partnership with an artist who was keen to use the museum as a venue for his touring exhibition. Here was the story of ‘Roger master’, an Englishman who had dedicated his life understanding, living with, learning the language and recording the lives of Bangladeshi people since the 1960s. These people had left their country of origin to come and live, work and settle in the UK in the hope of a better future for themselves and their families.
For the early Bangladeshi settlers in Birmingham,
“taking photographs, preserving documents or keeping records of their lives was not a priority.”
Clever use of technology was evident across the exhibition which enhanced the visitor’s experience. The use of a big flat interactive touch-screen took centre-piece in the room. There were many archival photographic materials that you could look at, zoom in and out of, and have a play around with swapping and moving them across the screen. It was interesting to see how they have used augmented reality to feed in more interesting and lively facts about the lives of the people depicted either through film footage or interviews which were superimposed on the graphics and text labels.
Having contemplated the Knights of the Raj, we very naturally found ourselves in the adjoining room where The past is now exhibition is.
The past is now, in my opinion, is a befitting title for the exhibition’s theme of the British empire, colonisation and current immigration issues. This exhibition was co-curated with six talented Asian women. The narratives and the stories of the people they tell, together with the artefacts displayed, present a different perspective to inquisitive audiences.
It presents facts in an enlightening way and sheds light on both sides of the same facts, rather than mask the harsh and dark realities and embellish the niceties of colonial achievements. This has been made possible because of the co-curation process, rather than relying solely on the traditional curatorial expertise and knowledge. Rachel Minott, the Research Assistant who worked on this exhibition along with 6 co-curators, noted how relying solely on curatorial expertise can sometimes result in narrowed interpretation. This exhibition urges one to analyse and criticise any stories which are presented within a museum environment, and to question whether museum voices and viewpoints are an accurate reflection of today’s societies.
As an example, a bicycle, one of the objects on display, reveals crucial facts about colonisation and the British Empire as well as depicting the real history of Birmingham’s past as being a manufacturing city which built its fortune at the expense of other countries and their people — like Trinidad and Congo. This is because when you start questioning why and how bicycles were made one soon realises that the concept for the iron rods for the frame of the bicycle was born out of the ammunition and guns industry, which in turn created wars and famine in West African countries. Also, that asphalt and rubber were the raw materials that had to be sourced from abroad to build roads and tyres which, although beneficial to Birmingham’s manufacturing industry, the same could not be said for those who had to toil hard to produce the asphalt and rubber by risking their health and safety. This leads on to issues such as the Eugenics movement set up by the Birmingham born, Scientist, Francis Galton.
It was both interesting and revealing that the feedback left by most people when faced with the question of:
“what were you taught about the British Empire in school?”
The answers were generally either not much at all, or about its glorification.
The fact that the museum has been daring enough to give away the right to people outside of its usual remit to co-curate this exhibition is an amazing turning point in how different approaches can help facilitate and encourage interactions with diverse audiences.
The impact that the exhibition has on the discerning visitor would most certainly not have been the same had it been curated from the usual perspectives, rather than challenge colonisation and the rule of the British Empire across the globe. The visitor is forced to be moved by experiencing and re-living the consequences of that bygone era but the legacy of which is still very much present today. It lives on in structures such as museums, schools and governments, and still affects individual and national senses of identity today.
By allowing the space for co-curation to take place, the museum has developed a real understanding of the communities it serves as well as demonstrated real engagement with its people in meaningful and impactful ways. It is empowering the people and giving them a chance to voice their perspectives on topical issues such as the rule of the British empire and colonisation.
On another level, the exhibition forces one to think deeply about one’s origins, for example, mixed raced children and how the values are lost over generations.
Capitalism is another theme that emerges from colonisation and the British empire throughout the exhibition and this in turn is said to have had the effect of coming full circle with immigration issues.
“Modern day migration is the direct consequence of a colonial past. Migrants are often surprised to find Britain’s inhabitants have forgotten their centuries-long relationship. To those who have forgotten, here is a reminder: “We’re here, because you were there”.”
Moving on, we made a brief visit to the Coming Out exhibition which was aimed at broadening one’s understanding and appreciation of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) issues within our societies. The displays were once again well curated, and the artist installations sent out powerful messages to the public. Nudity and nakedness was a pervading theme which urges one to meditate on the evocative issues around gender,sexuality and identity. The space, being on the lower ground floor felt conducive to the idea of “coming out” as if emerging from the underworld.
Overall, all three of the above-mentioned temporary exhibitions were eye-opening and thought-provoking. There is a lot to be learnt about not having unconscious biases, prejudices and superiority complexes regarding other cultures not of your own.
All life is deserving of respect and dignity and no one should have the right to deny another of this right! A diverse world is a better place to live than a boring mono identical society, should we say?
