Exhibition: Wales is… talking about empire
What do our collections at this museum tell us about representation in Wales? How can we foreground marginalised histories and experiences to reflect Welsh life? Whose voices or narratives are most powerful here?
We are working with artist Nasia Sarwar-Skuse and arts organisation Ways of Working to explore these and other questions in this new display as part of the Perspective(s) project.
Over the next six months, Nasia and Ways of Working will work with our collections and communities to explore a series of interventions which speak directly to the themes of colonialism and museums as complex institutions that represent a particular system of Western knowledge.
Ways of Working and Nasia have developed a series of questions that will articulate these themes which will appear in the atrium of the museum in the seven different languages spoken in Cardiff in 2024. Each month these questions will change and you will have the opportunity to leave a comment, share thoughts and reflections.
In the Wales is… gallery, we see a recreated living room reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s, to evoke conversations about memories, migration, and what empire means today. Within the installation sits the sofa of Robert Clive - the invitation is for you to consider this item within this domestic scene. Turning the gaze on the coloniser.
The sofa was made for Robert Clive (1725–74), known as Clive of India. He was a coloniser who expanded the British Empire across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Myanmar. Working for the East India Company, he looted the wealth of Asia and made himself a multimillionaire.
Nasia will host conversations in this space to explore ideas, feelings and memories, turning the gaze on Robert Clive and empire.
Throughout the Perspective(s) project there will be further interventions into the museum landscape as well as talks, events and events.
Perspectives is a collaboration between the Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru, which seeks to bring about a step change in how the visual arts and heritage sector reflects the cultural and ethnic diversity of our society. The project is supported by the Welsh Government as part of a collective effort to meet the culture and heritage goals of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.