SCENARIO.

Exhibition in a box is designed to facilitate and promote cultural diversity. The box comprises of thirty amazing images produced from rare 19th century photographs which portray African, Caribbean and South Asian people during the British Victorian era. The Box was produced by Autograph ABP and is archived by Shades of Noir. Shades of Noir are the official custodians for exhibition in a box having seen its potential to aid discussion and form new narratives within Art and Design learning environments.

Image Credits:

Installation Black Chronicles Archive Laboratory at Autograph ABP, 2016.

© Zoe Maxwell, courtesy of Autograph ABP.

Race was hardly ever talked about and hardly anyone made work on this topic! I personally feel like it wasn’t encouraged by my tutor. He would steer me away from making work about my identity. It made me feel quite uncomfortable, like it wasn’t valid, or it wasn’t good. Made me feel like I shouldn’t be there at times. I would dread crits and explaining because there would just be silence and frowns. So I wouldn’t make work for ages, or it would put me off going into the studio.

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THIS ACTIVITY THAT ENGAGED THE STUDENTS?

Pre-workshop Overview:

Shades of Noir education developer Melodie Holliday gave a brief overview of the exhibition in a box. Contextualising the historical significance of such an artefact on notions and concepts about identity and belonging. Drawing on both personal and political evidence Melodie discussed the idea of the British Empires colonial and imperial past. Disrupting previous narratives about Wind rush and the idea that the first wave of black migrants came to England at this time in history. Exhibition in a box is further evidence that a black presence has always existed in some form or another in England centuries before Empire Wind rush.

Workshop:

Thea is a Design Pathway Leader and specialist practitioner, in Design for Performance, Screen and Theatre. Thea contacted Shades of Noir to access exhibition in a box for her students who were in the middle of a self -directed study project. Thea proposed to make the workshop about exploring Characters and Historical Research a lunchtime option.

Theas main areas of investigation for the students studying Theatre and Film Design are:

• Creating and Understanding narrative

• Creating dimensional characters

• To engage students in the exploration of social history as a part of their research.

Knowing that many of her students would be familiar with the presence of white people in England during this period. Thea wanted to show that the presence of people of colour also existed during this time in history in the Uk. The primary aim of the workshop was to encourage the students to avoid working with stereotypes and to be mindful of making assumptions.

Thea asked her students to look at a series of pictures and then asked the learners to think about the dress of the individuals in the images in order to devise a narrative. She posed specific questions, such as what type of

Pre-workshop Overview: employment and lifestyle did the person have? After the students came to some agreement in pairs, they were encouraged to read the descriptions detailed in the exhibition. Then the students were asked to compare and contrast to find out if their initial assumptions had been legitimate.

Since exhibition in a box has been designed with the specific aim of encouraging new discourses, regarding, race in society and educational environments. It is an invaluable learning tool and resource which can be of great benefit to all courses within art and design. Meeting learning criteria’s such as diversifying research. Developing new narratives through exploration and considering critical approaches to society and the historical context

For access to this incredible resource please contact melodie@shadesofnoir.org.uk or info@shadesofnoir.org.uk.

For more information about Autograph ABP Email: info@autograph-abp.co.uk