CURATING DISCOMFORT
Museums are political places
'Curating Discomfort' puts forward discomforting provocations and interventions to help us think critically about colonial systems, such as the British Empire.
Find out more about this work taking place at The Hunterian.
A Declaration of Discomfort
Most museums are monuments to a system that privileges some people over others and creates a narrative about the identity of nations or cities that institutions seek to project and protect.
Museums hold collections from donors who benefited from the practice of racial slavery, violent endeavours, forced removal and the systematic oppression of indigenous peoples.
Museums are political places.
‘Curating Discomfort’ puts forward discomforting provocations and interventions to help us to understand that museums have perpetuated ideologies of white supremacy: a political, economic and cultural system in which white western ideas control the power of the texts, the material resources and the actions that continue to underpin notions of cultural superiority.
Colonial systems, such as the British Empire, used these ideologies to justify the enslavement and colonisation of peoples and lands around the world. Museums developed within this context and they remain spaces that celebrate and memorialise colonial systems. Collections, displays and labels are a political act that have legacies rooted in colonialism.
We are only now recognising that we are not neutral and that we have, without consideration, been complicit in perpetuating the ideologies of previous centuries.
About the Process
Curating Discomfort was developed by The Hunterian to address historic power imbalances within the museum and across all our activities.
As a starting point to change, Curating Discomfort intervenes in current museum practice to establish new models and narratives around the collection.
It is the start of an ongoing process, striving to embed anti-racist practice into every aspect of our work.
Meet the Team
From the community curators to Hunterian staff - find out more about the team involved in the Curating Discomfort intervention.
Podcasts and Blogs
The Curating Discomfort podcast series explores The Hunterian's collections with academics, community activists, social justice campaigners and educators.
Listen to the Curating Discomfort podcast
The following blogs by Hunterian staff reflect on the Curating Discomfort process: