Black History Month: Reclaiming Narratives

This year, Black History Month embraces the theme ‘Reclaiming Narratives’  to celebrate Black history, take control of stories and make a lasting impact on how Black history is told and taught.

At the Holburne, we’re committed to addressing our own historical connections to histories of colonisation and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We know that our founders’ ancestors were involved in the plantation economy of the Caribbean which entailed the use of enslaved labour, and that Sir William Holburne – and later the Museum – benefitted financially from that involvement. Similarly, since 1914 we have been housed in the former Sydney Hotel which was part of the urban development of Sir William Pulteney who also benefitted from the plantation economy.

We have committed to address these histories in three ways:

• We are researching the Holburne family’s and the Museum’s historical association with enslavement, building that information into our public displays and messaging. You can read more about the Holburne family and Caribbean plantations.
• We are researching our Collection and, where relevant, revising interpretation to reflect links between objects and these problematic histories that may relate to an object’s maker, content, provenance, material or some other component.
• We aim to ensure that our programme of temporary exhibitions and events regularly addresses and raises issues around colonisation and slavery, and that the work and the artists we show reflect the diversity that is one of the positive legacies of those histories.

Join our Walk and Talk sessions
Every Monday in October a member of the Holburne’s staff including the Director, Curator and Head of Learning will be hosting free informal ‘Walk & Talk’ sessions, exploring how we reclaim narratives within our collection and sharing some of the work we are doing. This is an opportunity to share ideas and ask questions. Find out more.