Decolonising the Museum - Reframing Picton

2020 was a year characterised by the Black Lives Matter Protests. The UK protests highlighted the aspects of Britain’s dark colonial past. The toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol epitomised a national acknowledgement of Britain’s implication in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and symbolised a rejection of the honouring of Slave traders. This period of confronting Britain’s colonial tyranny inspired introspection amongst museums, spaces with typically colonial 
histories. National Museum Wales thus decided to revise the way it displays its large-scale portrait of Sir Thomas Picton, a British Army officer, crowned a Welsh hero for fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. Picton was involved in the colonial slave trade in Trinidad and was famous for his horrific torture of enslaved peoples, particularly for his trial for the torture of a 14-year-old girl, Luisa Calderon (Epstein. 2007). This case has been brought to light in the Reframing Picton Exhibition in National Museum Wales, in which Picton’s portrait has been removed from the Faces of Wales gallery and is now presented with artefacts from the brutality he enacted upon Trinidadian people. The exhibition also features installations from Naku Leg art collective, representing different Black experiences and ancestry (Adams 2021).

A photo from my visit

In his book Post-Colonial Melancholia, Paul Gilroy writes ‘[…] we need to ask how an increased familiarity with the bloodstained workings of racism-and the distinctive achievements of the colonial governments it inspired and legitimated- might be made to yield lessons that could be applied more generally, in the demanding contemporary settings of multicultural social relations’ (Gilroy. 2005. p.4) This calls for an awareness of the colonial past and a consciousness of how these artefacts affect contemporary cultural interactions. The Reframing Picton exhibition is pivotal in the way we are understanding this colonial past and increasing general awareness of typical museum installations that propagate a myth of white innocence, particularly Welsh innocence. This exhibition challenges the ever-present British symptom of fantasy and forgetfulness of the ugly side of history. 

 

During my visit to the exhibition, I was surprised in my realisation of who Thomas Picton truly was. Famed as a war hero, his identity has been held in high esteem amongst British institutions. James Epstein notes that Picton’s death is commemorated by a statue in St. Paul’s Cathedral, and his portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery (Epstein. 2007). These installations are symptomatic of the British romanticisation of times of colonial power and greatness. The creation of the Reframing Picton exhibition is critical in challenging public awareness and drawing attention to a romanticisation of the dark past. However, it is important to consider if the museum is the appropriate place to enact these discussions. Museums in the UK were typically established during periods in which colonial practices were firmly in place. Much of the content within British museums has colonial entanglements. Most of the practices used to acquire such items would be deemed unacceptable in contemporary times. It is unlikely that museum spaces can ever truly be decolonised, but the Reframing Picton exhibition is certainly a step in the right direction. By understanding the reality of the past and providing a space for contemporary artists to reflect on colonial pasts, the dominant discourse around these controversial characters can be changed. 










Bibliography


Adams, K.G. 2021., Artist commissions to address legacy of Welsh ‘tyrant of Trinidad’ Available at: <https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2021/10/new-artist-commissions-to-address-legacy-of-welsh-tyrant-of-trinidad/> [Accessed 14th December 2022]

 

 

Epstein, J. 2007. Politics of Colonial Sensation: The Trial of Thomas Picton and the Cause of Louisa Calderon. The American Historical Review 122.3, pp. 712-741. doi: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40006668 [Accessed 14th December 2022]

 

Farrer, M. 2020. Who was Edward Colston and why was his Bristol statue toppled? The Guardian 8th June.Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/08/who-was-edward-colston-and-why-was-his-bristol-statue-toppled-slave-trader-black-lives-matter-protests> [Accessed 14th December 2022]

 

Gilroy, P. 2005. Post-Colonial Melancholia. New York, Columbia University Press. Available at: https://www.google.com.br/books/edition/Postcolonial_Melancholia/Fxi1v1V8x_YC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=paul+gilroy+postcolonial+melancholia&printsec=frontcover> [Accessed 14th December 2022]

 


‘Reframing Picton’. National Museum Wales (2022) Available at: https://museum.wales/cardiff/whatson/11568/Reframing-Picton/ [Accessed 14th December 2022]










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