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Textile Study Day @ Brighton Museum & Art Gallery – Friday 29 September 2017

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery’s African textiles study day held on 29 September 2017 drew a good number of people from museums and other institutions, some with little or no direct experience of textiles and, somewhat to the hosts’ surprise and evident delight, quite a few with specialist knowledge.

Sarah Posey of Brighton Museum opened proceedings with a welcome address. Rachel Heminway Hurst, Curator of World Art at the Museum followed with an introduction to the day and an outline of the Museum’s ongoing Fashioning Africa project (2015—2018). The project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), has enabled the Museum to bring together a number of external specialists and people from the community. This panel has met regularly over the past few years and has worked alongside the Museum’s project staff to devise a collecting policy for the project, the main aim of which is to acquire African textiles and clothing dating from the 1960s up until 2007 to complement the Museum’s existing historical collection. Several panellists have been directly involved in sourcing and collecting items for the museum and continue to work alongside the museum’s project staff.

The study day was split between four illustrated presentations in the morning followed by a textiles and garments object handling session in the afternoon. The morning presentations were given by three members of the project panel, namely Dr Nicola Stylianou, a specialist in African textiles, Dr Malika Kraamer, a curator specialising in Ghanian textiles and Ms Edith Ojo, a Brighton-based museum consultant with first hand experience of Nigerian fashion. Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, textiles specialist and director of the Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden gave the fourth presentation and was the only non-panel member to help facilitate the day.

Together, the talks provided an introduction and overview of African textiles as well as further information about several aspects of Fashioning Africa. Nicola gave ‘a (very) brief introduction’ to African textiles, helpfully identifying and discussing several types of historical textiles she has found most commonly represented within UK museums during the course of her researches. These include the baban riga (man’s gown from Nigeria), adire cloth (indigo resist dyed or hand painted cloth made by women in Nigeria) and the Sudanese jibba (man’s cotton tunic). Kraamer’s ‘A Kente Jouney in Ghana: Collecting for Brighton Museum’ gave an account of the five day trip she, Rachel and Nicola recently conducted in order to acquire strip woven cloth for the Museum. Her presentation provided not only a lively description of the journey, but also insight into some of the technical aspects of this cloth and its variety, as well as practical (and other) considerations when field collecting. During her talk, Edith spoke candidly about her initial reservations and how, after cautiously agreeing to become a Fashioning Africa panel member, she found herself an enthusiastic champion of the project, and especially of Aso-Oke attire. She shared how her Nigerian heritage and networks helped her field collect several garments in the UK for the museum’s collection. She stressed how these items were all highly treasured by their former owners and, in a theme that chimed with Malika’s talk, have been ethically sourced and gathered with detailed information before being entrusted to the museum. Gillian from the TRC rounded off the presentations, sharing some of her extensive knowledge and experience of textiles, of various epochs, from around the world. Her enthusiasm for the subject was evident, from technical aspects to the importance of digitising collections, documentation and research (‘the stories’). She also spoke about the TRC’s own collection, stressing its importance as a teaching collection, which she hopes will take on more African textiles.

The presentations were following by a Q&A session chaired by Helen Mears, Keeper of World Art at Brighton, where delegates and panellists raised several pertinent points, including how Fashioning Africa might be considered a step towards decolonising the museum collection. After a networking lunch, delegates returned to the MuseumLab for the much-anticipated handling, discussion and skills-sharing session, facilitated by the morning session’s presenters. Each presenter was stationed at a themed table –Nicola/printed and dyed cloth, Malika/Ghanaian cloth, Edith/Nigerian textiles and Gillian/textile embellishments – laid out with examples from the museum collection, some historical and others recent Fashioning Africa acquisitions.

This most enjoyable and informative day was supported by the HLF as well as the Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) and, of course, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.

Catherine Elliott, attendee and student

#fashion cities africa #fashioning africa #fashion #brighton museum #african textiles

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery has just acquired the following outfit at part of it’s Heritage Lottery funded project Fashioning Africa.

These garments featured in the museum’s exhibition Fashion Cities Africa (April 2016-Jan 2017) as a look put together by Nairobi-based stylist Sunny Dolat.

(above image photographed by Tessa Hallmann)

This look draws from male silhouettes from the East African coastal regions, echoing the relaxed yet regal demeanor of the Swahili. The fitted sandstone jura shirt is reminiscent of a crisp kanzu, and offers a stark contrast to the kohl black scarf. The polished brass and the geode’s innate sparkle provide lustrous accents that enhance the distinguished appeal of this luxe ensemble.

Jura shirt dress by Katungulu Mwendwa

Sandals from Afros by Emo Rugene

Black scarf by Memsaab Ltd

Caged Geode cuff by Ami Doshi Shah

Recycled sugar sack clutch bag with bone adornment by Adele Dejak

Antique Samburu pipe necklace by Katungulu Mwendwa

Tasseleted wrist piece by Ami Doshi Shah

Although Fashion Cities Africa is no longer on display at Brighton Museum, there is still an opportunity to see this outfit, together with some of Sunny’s other looks because the exhibition has gone on tour to The Tropenmuseum, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands from 6 October 2017.

See: https://tropenmuseum.nl/en/exhibition/fashioncitiesafrica

Sunny Dolat is a Kenyan fashion stylist, creative director and production designer.

His background in visual arts set the stage for a career in evolving concepts in beauty and design everywhere from fashion shoot mood boards to TV/film sets, and luxury hotels of international repute.Sunny has designed interventions such as Stingo & Chico Leco to provoke dialogue on the improvement of the infrastructure and operations of the regional industry.

He was the creative director of the fashion film “To Catch A Dream”, starring renowned Kenyan model Ajuma Nasenyana, and firmly believes in the role of film as both an extension and disruption of the catwalk. His online fashion intervention, Chico Leco, has grown from high fashion editorial work into a holistic brand representing the bold, eclectic aesthetic of an eternal Africa, shifting the narrative and expectation of Kenyan fashion beyond ankara, kikoy and kanga, and making unapologetic statements about the dignity of black skin.

His latest project, a fashion book titled - Not African Enough, puts together ideas and images from a selection of emerging Kenyan designers who are contributing to the shifting aesthetic of our country. In this interrogation of what exactly qualifies as ‘authentically African’, we challenge narrow definitions of African design and showcase original, unencumbered thinking and practice in this challenging sphere. Not African Enough is a voyage into Kenyan contemporary fashion as an exploration of wider issues regarding Africa’s place in global cultural debates and dialogues.

Sunny is 1/10 of The Nest Collective, a multidisciplinary arts (http://www.thisisthenest.com)

collaborative that serves as a functional playground for artists,

thinkers and curious minds. He is also Creative Strategy Manager

and board member at HEVA, an East African creative economy catalyst fund,

interested in sustainable financing, business support and market

growth for creative professionals.

Not African Enough presents a collection of words and images from a selection of emerging Kenyan designers who are contributing to shifting the aesthetic of our country by challenging the narrow expectations of what African design looks like.

'Not African enough' is a derogatory term routinely lobbed at artists, creators and thinkers who step outside the narrow confines of what the world—and Africans—think it means to look, talk like, think like and be an African. The book is an attempt to dismantle—perhaps even distance from—this heavy, super concept 'African'; this assembly of words, images, sounds, ideas, weaknesses, histories and failings associated with the entire continent.

Collated by Steve Kisko, Collections Assistant, World Art with kind assistance from Sunny Dolat in Kenya.

#tropenmuseum #brighton museum lab #royal pavilion #not african enough #sunny dolat #Brighton Museum #kenya

What is this object?

It appears to be made out of wood carved in the shape of an animal with curly horns, probably a form of ram or antelope.

It has carved detail of three birds situated on upper side of animal head. It normally has four small birds on it but the one at the front has fallen off and can be seen in the picture in front of the left horn.

The timber substrate has animal skin on it and plant based twine, iron nails and traces of white paint.

It is 930mm long by 450mm wide and 280mm high.

Well, this object is……..an African headdress and belonged to people from the Ejagham cultural group originating from southeast Nigeria and parts of Cameroon, who speak the Ekoi language. Headdresses like this are an important part of their cultural practice in ceremonial activities such as dance and can reflect social status.

Remedial Work Required

Sitting in our store for some time it was in need of a little attention. We commissioned specialist conservator Eve Taylor to carry out some much-needed treatment to its surface which had become a little mouldy over time. Patches of white mould had begun to appear over the animal skin on the top areas and de-laminating animal skin was visible on the top, bottom and back face of the object.

Before Conservation...

To remedy the condition, Eve dry cleaned it with a vacuum and a bristle brush. It was then swabbed to remove mould on the animal skin. The loose carving of a small bird was carefully re-attached with specialist adhesives.

After Conservation...

The object looks in much better condition - cleaned and restored.

Steve Kisko, Collections Assistant, World Art.

#head dress #ejagham #nigeria #cameroon #conservation #ekoi

Queer Kanga and Rainbow Love

For our Rainbow Love event the day after Pride in Brighton, we displayed the Kenyan Kanga (left) and the Obama Kanga (right). The text of the Kenya Kanga reads “Your love is valid” and the Obama Kanga reads, “Congratulations Barack Obama” and “God has granted us Love and Peace”. The Kenya Kanga is a part of the exhibition “To Revolutionary Type Love”, a project created by Kawira Mwirichia and held at the Goethe Institut in Nairobi from the 17th of May to the 2nd of June, 2017. The Kenya Kanga was chosen because of its strong message and historical connotations and the Obama Kanga was chosen to represent the political messages that can be spread by Kangas. It was also chosen because Barack Obama is from Kenya and under his presidency, same-sex marriage was made legal across the United States.

In the mid-19th century, Portuguese traders brought in European cloth to East Africa. These printed kerchiefs were bought in lengths of six, and then sewn together to form a 3x2 rectangle. These cloths were used as a form of self-expression, self-empowerment and a show of wealth. This was especially the case after slavery was abolished in 1897. Today, Kangas are sold in sets of two and are also known by the name leso.

Kangas are rectangular cloths, usually made out of cotton, that stretch the length of your outstretched arms and wide enough to cover you from your neck to your knee. They are printed in bold designs, with a border on all sides, a central symbol or figure, and a saying in Kiswahili. They are used as a means to communicate, sometimes spread political messages, and as gifts. They are used to mark stages of life: as a baby sling, to mark puberty, and as marriage gifts.

The tradition of giving Kangas from the grooms parents to their new daughter in law sparked the exhibition “To Revolutionary Type Love”. Queer people are excluded from this tradition because they are not allowed to marry in Kenya. Kawira Mwirichia chose to use Kangas to illustrate Queer love because of their cultural significance and to legitimise their existence. This project celebrates and honours Queer love by writing and sharing their story. It is making Queer love visible, because she recognises how damaging it is to be made invisible. All in all, she will create and display 196 Kangas to represent each country in the world to celebrate rainbow love. Each Kanga will represent that countries history and have a Queer Kenyan love quote.

Maria Wilhelmy (pictured), work placement intern, World Art, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.

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#kanga #queer love #rainbow love #brighton pride #obama

Workplace Student Review

Here is a little blog from Grace who worked with us recently: (Grace is pictured above in the World Stories Gallery, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery)

During the last three months, I have been completing a placement in the World Art section at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. I currently study History of Art and Design at the University of Brighton, and my placement was part of a ‘Behind the Scenes’ module, which focuses on gaining experience working within museums and galleries. World Art was something that I had never really studied before, so I was really intrigued to see what the department was like.

A main task I was working on was scanning and uploading a large collection of photographs from the World Art collection. Through scanning them to create a digitised image, and then uploading them onto the museums database, I was enabling a huge range of images to become accessible to more people, who would now be able to see them, and their corresponding details, through Asset Bank. Although this task took a very long time, it felt good to know that hundreds of photographs from the collection were now not stuck in a box, but out for people to see and access! For a few weeks I was working in Museum Lab, part of Brighton Museum, that enables the public to engage with the curators and staff who are working there, by opening up their working space to the public. It was really interesting to see how many museum visitors really immersed themselves in the practical elements of the museum.

Doing my placement at the museum has benefitted my degree studies greatly; I now have a greater insight into how museums are run, and how important the digitisation of collections, and improving accessibility is. I have also gained a greater appreciation of just how much work is put in by all the museum staff to ensure the museum is a place that is accessible to all. The practical skills I have also gained, such as handling collections, and experience with the museums database, will also prove extremely valuable in the future. Most of all, my placement has made me realise how much I would like to continue working within museums after I have finished my degree.

Grace Roberts, University of Brighton student, Spring 2017.

I’d like to thank Grace for all her help during the 8 weeks she worked with us in World Art. We were hugely grateful for her time and effort in digitalising a collection that was long overdue. She demonstrated great enthusiasm and picked up learning the systems really quickly. Thank you so much and well done!

Steve Kisko, Collections Assistant, World Art, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.

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#workplace student #world art #mimsy #digitalisation #brighton museum #university of brighton

stevekisko-deactivated20241222

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery’s own Mannequin Challenge - taking down all the mannequins of our Fashion Cities Africa exhibition!

boothcurator

#ocean blues exhibition coming down 😢 - its been a good run (1 yr extension) but these guys get to go home now! #brightonmuseum #boothmuseum (at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery)

brightonmuseumlab

We’re delving into subversion across Brighton Museum & Art Gallery today.

Here’s a small selection of objects on display in MuseumLab including: garments designed by the Queen of punk fashion Vivienne Westwood; cheeky Regency caricatures; Portuguese dishes with grotesque models of frogs, moths and millipedes; Lily Allen’s ‘Bambi Killer’ dress; and, a chamber pot given as a wedding gift featuring a frog inside with the inscription ‘Keep me Clean and use me well / And what I see I will not tell’!

TEXTILE

Grass cloth scarf with interwoven geometric patterns at ends in black and red fibre. Fringe 4' 11.5" Width 1'5"

#textiles #central africa #scarf

REVIEW: The Science of Instruments: Museum Lab

SCIENCE OF INSTRUMENTS, BREMF in association with Brighton & Hove Museums,The Museum Lab

#early music #musical instruments #museumlab #brighton museum

“We are surviving without a dream” Kachin refugees in Kuala Lumpur

Helen Mears, Royal Pavilion & Museums’ Keeper of World Art, reports from a recent trip to Malaysia undertaken as part of her doctoral research at the University of Brighton into the use of heritage amongst overseas Kachin communities. Brighton Museum & Art Gallery is the caretaker of a rare collection of photographs and textiles relating to the Kachin minority in northern Myanmar.

An estimated 1,500 Kachin asylum seekers and refugees live in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. Displaced by conflict, especially that which erupted following the breakdown of a ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar government and Kachin Independence Organization in 2011, most undertook dangerous journeys to the city in pursuit of safety and, hopefully, the opportunity of resettlement in a third country. In KL they joined one of the world’s largest urban refugee populations.

Registration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the organisation’s KL office provides little protection to refugees in Malaysia. Malaysia is neither a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol and lacks a legislative and policy framework for refugees. Asylum seekers and refugees are treated as illegal migrants and are vulnerable to arrest, extortion and detention. If arrested and unable to pay the fine levied refugees run the risk of being sent to one of the country’s twelve immigration detention depots. Conditions at some of these have been described as amongst the worst in the world.

My doctoral research at the University of Brighton on overseas Kachin communities led me to KL where a third country resettlement programme run by the UNHCR has seen several thousand Kachins, and members of other Myanmar ethnic groups, resettled in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and northern Europe. During my stay I interviewed Kachin asylum seekers and refugees. Like others of similar status in Malaysia they are prohibited from working and from accessing state healthcare and their children are denied access to government-funded public schools. Most refugees, inevitably, have to work to survive. Their employment choices are limited to insecure and low-paid jobs in restaurants, retail and construction where they work under the constant threat of arrest. A lack of recourse to legal protection also leaves refugees vulnerable to becoming victims of crime and abuse.

Above image: Kachin youth attend an English language class run by a volunteer teacher. The class starts at 11pm to accommodate those in employment.

Lack of legal recognition not only brings the immediate danger of arrest, extortion and detention. It also is life-inhibiting in other ways, including by preventing refugee access to the Internet, to mobile phones and to banking facilities. For most Kachin refugees the lack of access to education is amongst the greatest of their frustrations, making their time in the city feel ‘meaningless’. Whilst the Kachin community runs two learning centres for refugee children, they are dependent on the efforts of volunteer teachers and, without access to funds, no opportunities for tertiary education exist in KL.

Like all Myanmar refugees in Malaysia, the Kachin must endure a cruel waiting game. UNHCR-administrated resettlement places have dried up for all but the most vulnerable and, at this point, the UNHCR’s other two durable solutions for refugees – local integration or voluntary repatriation – remain unviable; the lack of legal recognition and protection preventing the former and the ongoing conflict in the Kachin region the latter. Even the registration of asylum seekers and refugees can take several years as the UNHCR is facing a significant administrative backlog. 800 Kachin people are still waiting for a UNHCR identity card.

While the situation facing Kachin refugees in KL is perhaps less dire than that facing the near 100,000 Internally Displaced People (IDP) living near the Myanmar-China border, both communities have suffered from a lack of international attention. Conditions for both are also worsening, as the already limited international aid directed to the IDPs reduces to a trickle and Malaysia adopts new legislation which is likely to make life even more unbearable for refugees seeking its protection. While Kachin-led civil society organisations actively campaign for greater awareness around the challenges currently facing Kachin people, international agencies must do more than just watch and wait.

Helen Mears, September 2016

Helen’s visit to Malaysia was generously funded by the University of Brighton’s College of Arts and Humanities and supported by the Malaysia Kachin Baptist Church (MKBC). She is currently exploring the viability of establishing an educational fund to support Kachin refugees in Malaysia. Contact her ([email protected]) for more information.

#kachin #myanmar #burma #university of brighton #brighton museum #malaysia #kuala lumpur #unhcr #internally displaced people #refugees

Top left and right: Charles Makhuya in Mafela Trust office, Bulawayo Zimbabwe, August 2016

Bottom left: Charles with his AK47 rifle in guerrilla fatigues in the late 1970s in Angola during training

Bottom right: Charles (left) with a fellow Zipra guerrilla in a Luanda photo studio during their training in Angola in late 1970s.

A unique piece of Zimbabwean history acquired by Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

This long-sleeved shirt formerly belonged to Charles Makhuya. In the 1970s Charles was a guerrilla / freedom fighter with the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the armed wing of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU). Charles had been a ZAPU nationalist youth activist in his home town of Bulawayo but at the age of 15, he decided to leave Zimbabwe to join the armed struggle for Zimbabwe's independence. He left clandestinely, crossing first into Botswana and then onto Zambia, where ZAPU in exile had its headquarters. ZAPU sent him for military training in Angola. He travelled to the Angolan town of Luena in convoy with a group of 2000 other ZIPRA fighters, where he was trained by Cuban and Soviet instructors. He gained expertise in anti-tank warfare as well as medical training, and survived the 1979 bombing of the ZIPRA camps by the Rhodesian Air Force, in which around 200 guerrillas died along with Angolans, 6 Cubans and one Soviet instructor, and more than 1000 were wounded. The trainees were given white long-sleeved shirts by their Cuban trainers. Many individualised these by adding tie-dye designs, using the dye in woollen blankets they possessed, released by immersing these in hot water.

After Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, Charles returned home to Zimbabwe with other ZIPRA colleagues. The first British-supervised independence elections were won by Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union Party (ZANU), and relations between ZANU and ZAPU deteriorated. In the early 1980s, ZAPU and ZIPRA members became a target for “anti-dissident” violence. At this time, any evidence of personal association with ZAPU or ZIPRA brought great risk and most ZIPRA fighters disposed of items that might identify themselves as such, including these distinctive shirts. Charles’s shirt is likely to be one of very few in existence today making it a unique document of a period in Zimbabwe’s turbulent political history.

Royal Pavilion & Museums is grateful to Charles for enabling the shirt’s long-term preservation in a public museum collection and to Zephaniah Nkomo of the Mafela Trust and Professor JoAnn McGregor of the Sussex Africa Centre at the University of Sussex for facilitating its transfer. The acquisition of the shirt forms part of Royal Pavilion & Museums’ Fashioning Africa project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures scheme, which is working with partners to build a new collection reflecting the changes in African fashion identities 1960-2000.

Helen Mears, Keeper of World Art

#zimbabwe #brighton museum #bulawayo #botswana #zambia #angola #luena #tie-dye

VIDEO - Javanese Puppets come out of the Shadows

Here is a video of a performance using shadow puppets in Brighton Museum & Art Gallery’s MuseumLab based on inspiration from the museum’s collection of Javanese shadow puppets, as mentioned in the below article.

Hope you enjoy it.

http://worldart-brightonmuseums.tumblr.com/post/149129818936/javanese-puppets-come-out-of-the-shadows

(Video courtesy of Early Years Education Officer Michael Olden)

Steve Kisko, Collections Assistant, World Art

#video #shadow puppets #javanese #museumlab

What am I?

Do you know what this unusual object is?

Read on to find out....

Steve Kisko (pictured), Collections Assistant, World Art.

#what am i?

Well done if you said it is a musical instrument called a serpent.

Essentially it is a brass wind instrument closely related to a cornett. It has a distinctive curving ‘S’ snakelike shape, hence the name.

This object in our collection is European, has 6 holes, 3 keys and is in excellent condition. It is made of a wooden body, with brass fittings and keys and an ivory mouthpiece. It came into our care in the 1960s.

Steve Kisko, Collections Assistant, World Art.

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#serpent #musical instruments #brighton museum #music #serpent instrument #what am i?

Javanese Puppets come out of the Shadows

On Tuesday 9 August some of our Javanese Shadow Puppets made an amazing return to public view when they were on display in MuseumLab.

What happened on the day?

Curator of World Art Rachel Heminway Hurst laid out our shadow puppets for visitors to look at for a close up inspection of their beautiful and colourful appearance.

Children took inspiration from these original objects, and with the help of Early Years Education Officer Michael Olden made their own versions using black card decorated with crayons.