Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - The Whole Picture: The colonial story of the art in our museums... and why we need to talk about it

While I can appreciate that this book is a well needed book to begin conversations and changes around the changes museums need to make for society to become equal and for the truth of the victims of colonialism, imperialism, genocide and other events to be taught more openly, I struggled to finish this book.

I enjoyed the majority of this book, apart from part 2 The Classroom, perhaps due to the academic, dry style this book is written in.

If you frequently go to museums or art galleries and/or interested in art history or history, then I would recommend reading this book if you want to start questioning the role museums still have today on holding objects forcefully take during colonisation. Just take on board the fact that this book can be quite heavy in its content and dry in its writing style.

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sarah984's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

This is an interesting look at museums both through their history as colonial institutions and attempts to reckon (or not) with that in the present, based on a selection of relevant objects and art installations. Each piece is given a simple one-sentence description at the beginning of its chapter, which highlights the importance of framing and context to the meaning of the object. I do think the author was a little too generous toward some of the more controversial art installations mentioned and I would like to read more authors of colour on this subject, but I liked the book overall.

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