Picture This: The Black Curator

The chapter is a reflection on my curatorial practice between 2001-2002. During this period I was curator of the Heritage Lottery funded project the Archives and Museum of Black Heritage (AMBH). I also co-curated the 'Day of Record: Nails, Weaves and Naturals, event and 'Grooming an Identity' photographic exhibition at the V&A.

'Picture This' is an expansion of the paper SW7-SW9: A Case Study of Exhibitions on Black Culture', presented at the V&A conference 'Connections and Disconnections: Cultural Heritage and Diverse Communities' (2002). Both papers considered the role of the 'black curator' in contemporary museum culture; the agency of the 'black curator of a black organisation.

Additionally, the study looked at the benefits and complexities of collaborative efforts between so-called 'black' and 'white' organisations, such as AMBH and the V&A. The research was a blend of subjectivity and theoretical discussion on curatorial approaches to cultural diversity, heritage and black people's sense of place in Britain.

The academic significance of the chapter is that at the time of writing, in 2002-3, there were only a handful of black curators working in British museums. Therefore a black curator of a black museum-orientated project was rare. Its inclusion in 'The Politics of Heritage' was indicative of the academy's desire to include the personal experiences of heritage and diversity in Britain.

This debate began in Britain in the 1990s, and picked up momentum in 2000 through events such as the conference 'Who's Heritage?: The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Britain's Living Heritage'.

• http://www.transnational.org.uk/projects...
• http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/contemp...