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Within an institution as large as Birmingham
Museum & Art Gallery, it is the work and interests of a few individuals
that get projects like Invisible Women? off the ground, rather than the
institution itself. Therefore, it is perhaps more relevant to talk about
why two members of staff at BM&AG wanted to do this project, rather
than the Museum.
Simon Redgrave, as Education & IT Resources Officer at the museum
had devised a yearlong outreach programme aimed at black youth, called
represent. This was hugely successful and attracted a lot of attention
both within the museum sector and beyond it. At the time he had wanted
to provide some accreditation to the work the groups involved with represent
were doing, but that had not happened for a variety of reasons. He had
also established the Black History Month 2001 website with funding from
the Equalities Division of Birmingham City Council, www.birminghamblackhistory.com,
and made links with community groups to enable those groups without a
web presence to have some input and eventual ownership of the site.
Sarah Blackstock had ‘mapped’ BM&AG’s history collections,
looking for objects that related to Black and South Asian histories. This
had thrown up many surprising discoveries; guns traded in exchange for
slaves; abolitionist medals; a 2000 year-old pottery flask modelled on
an African male; guns and knives seized by the British during the Mao-Mao
uprisings in Kenya; a wealth of weapons and armour from India and Pakistan...
the list goes on. Sarah went on to organise a woman-only event to celebrate
International Women’s’ Day 2002 at Aston Hall, a branch museum
within Birmingham’s museum service. This was attended by 110 women,
largely African-Caribbean and Pakistani (reflecting the demography of
the local area). Consultation was carried out at that event, to see what
services women would like to see in their area, and in their museum service.
On the strength of that consultation, Invisible Women? was formulated.
How will they do it?
The course started on Monday 16th September 2002. It runs three days
a week until June 2003. On Mondays, the women are based at the museum,
taking part in workshops usually lead by Sarah Blackstock. They look at
objects she found through the mapping project, and have used object interpretation
worksheets that she used whilst studying for MA in museum studies at Leicester
University. The group also go into museum stores (so far, ethnography
and paintings); follow and critique various museum trails; have discussions
around issues that affect them and visit other museums and galleries.
Last up dated:
April 8, 2003
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