FEATURES 5
THE FOUNDER September 2021 that identified monuments that represented Britain’s imperial past and demanded they be removed. The most public display of this resistance was shown in the public’s removal and decimation of the Edward Colston Statue as he was known to have been a member of the Royal African Company which led him to trade tens of thousands of slaves. This symbolised the decolonisation of the streets of Britain that then led to many other institutions also being willing to purge themselves of the colonial remnants that remained within their system in an effort to try and combat the racism that had been present in them for so long. We have seen this in educational institutions, like universities and businesses as well as workplaces. In these areas, although it is not an easy task, decolonisation theoretically will lead to improvement but for institutions like Museums, especially British Museums, decolonisation is a loaded endeavour that requires a lot of contemplation before a pathway is forged. Many museums have artefacts from all around the world, the British Museum itself containing a multitude of different country’s artefacts. The vital question that presents itself when looking at the vast collections from former colonies that exist in the British Museum, is whether we should be allowed to keep these given the circumstances they have been taken under. The reality of the situation is that many of these artefacts were taken when colonies were still under imperial British rule, so the level of consent that was given is questionable at best and non-existent at worst. To many people, the withholding of these artefacts from their countries of origin to this day shows a refusal to acknowledge and make amends for Britain’s colonial past. A past that snatched away the opportunity for millions of people to have a rich and beautiful past of their own.
Why Can’t I Be a Fairy, Miss Smith?
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MOLLY AINLEY | CONTENT WRITER
What do you want to be when you are older?’, would be asked when we were only five. Like a song stuck in your head, we sang it over and over until our brains would hurt. ‘I do not know’, we quietly reply. Of course, at that age the world is so big you wish to do anything and all of it: the scary and the bad. We felt invincible, like superman.
Source: Wikimedia Commons An effort is now being made to further the repatriation of artefacts – return them to their nations of origins - but only in France where President Emmanuel Macron called for a change in law recommending all African works that were taken illegally to be returned to their respective nations. The British Museum remains silent on returning the many colonial era objects that are still behind its doors. However, while repatriation is a process that is yet to be engaged in widely, other ways to educate people about the reality of artefacts within the museum have been underway and even welcomed by the British Museum specifically. Alice Procter’s Uncomfortable Arts Tours started in June 2017 and invites the small groups she takes to question the history and origin of objects and images as well notions of Britain’s empirical past in relation to them. Alice stated that she has never been stopped by the museum, and a recent statement released by the museums association with regards to decolonization indicates that it supports any effort to educate people on the real past of object and works, which seems like a step in the right direction. But is it enough? As I grow, I wish we had never been asked. The pressure and the realisation we must decide is terrifying because what if I changed my mind? I thought that my uncertainty would be a flaw, that if I did not decide in that singular moment my life would forever be doomed. I now realise that I have friends who will have said vet but currently do art. Likewise, I have friends who said art that currently do science. They are all alright. From the age of five, we face challenges, and sadness, and excitement, and inspiration which moulds our dreams. As said by Katie Martin, “Early messages about what is valued and what is accepted in both family and in social circles are translated by reactions to this question” (Martin, 2017), the simple question becomes an everlasting dialogue
between society and child; a need to choose a ‘good’ career. In the last decade, it has become clear that pressure, from any young age, is dangerous for mental health and selfesteem, yet there is pressure over what we will be before we can even spell career. I like to change my answer even now (got to keep my Grandparents on their toes; ‘will she change her mind or will she not?’). The point is, you do not have to decide. Why should our joy be dependent on what we want to be when we are children? Can my goal not be happiness and love and success? I would love to be a teacher or a writer, but I am at peace with that evolving.
Source: Drawn by Hannah Nevis, 19, the illustration is her take on the discussed ideas. As an artist doing fine art she has experienced judgement for her future plans, and feels a level of frustration towards the question of what she wants to be, and the false reality that everyone will have ‘stereotypical’ jobs.