A review by marleneayumi
The Whole Picture: The Colonial Story of the Art in Our Museums & Why We Need to Talk about It by Alice Procter
4.0
"Museums are places of remembering, and misremembering"
Procter provides a wonderful insight into museums as reflections of the outside world- not neutral, but coaxed by curritorial narratives that exclude histories of enslavement, violence and empire. These spaces are never going to be rid of violence: they are embedded in the origins of their collections through the inheritance of power and trauma. However, this book urges a de-construction of centuries of dishonesty about their acquisitions and challenging these narratives in the process. This book was evocative, informative and educational in highlighting crucial but often forgotten temporalities.
Procter provides a wonderful insight into museums as reflections of the outside world- not neutral, but coaxed by curritorial narratives that exclude histories of enslavement, violence and empire. These spaces are never going to be rid of violence: they are embedded in the origins of their collections through the inheritance of power and trauma. However, this book urges a de-construction of centuries of dishonesty about their acquisitions and challenging these narratives in the process. This book was evocative, informative and educational in highlighting crucial but often forgotten temporalities.