<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/manchester-museum-south-asia-gallery-community-curated/>
"When Saira Qureshi heard that the Manchester Museum was looking for members of
the city’s South Asian community to curate a new gallery, she knew immediately
that she wanted to be involved.
Qureshi isn’t an artist or a museum curator — she’s a nonprofit volunteer who
was born in Karachi, Pakistan and grew up in the UK — but that was the point.
The museum staff formed a 30-member community collective of educators,
students, musicians and more to get their input on which works would be
displayed and what stories would be told in the new South Asia gallery that
opens February 18 as part of a multimillion-pound renovation.
The pieces displayed in many museums come from colonial-era collecting.
Further, in England today, only about six percent of museum staff identify as
Black, Asian or ethnically diverse — and the visitorship is nearly as
overwhelmingly white.
In response, some museums have turned to community-led curation. At the British
Museum, the Object Journeys project seeks input from Somali, South Asian and
Kiribati communities. Chicago’s Field Museum brought in an Apsáalooke woman as
a guest curator for its traveling exhibit
Apsáalooke Women and Warriors.
But the Manchester Museum project stands out for the size of the gallery, the
permanence of the co-curated space, and the sheer number of community members
who took part in all aspects of decision-making.
“It puts a stamp on our existence here,” Qureshi says of the new space’s focus
on Manchester’s South Asian diaspora."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
