Decolonising Arts Institute: the story so far
Now 3 years into its development, we explore the UAL Decolonising Arts Institute’s story so far.
UAL Decolonising Arts Institute is excited to share the finished research outputs from its 3 parallel residency programmes in 2021: Decolonising Archives ran for its second year in partnership with UAL Archives and Special Collections Centre (ASCC) and was based within UAL’s own archives and special collections. Decolonising Collections was new for 2021, working across the collections of Arts Council, British Council and Manchester Art Gallery; and also new in 2021 was our Digital Artist in Residence in partnership with iniva, the Institute for International Visual Arts.
Researchers in residence worked across the 3 programmes to develop critical and creative original responses to the collections. Their outputs include 7 written e-papers and 6 video recordings introducing their research, an audio essay, 2 podcast tracks, 2 booklets, a 4-fanzine series inspired by an original fanzine collection held by UAL; and a time-travelling script that reimagines moments from Chelsea’s history.
The 2021 Decolonising Archives researchers in residence were Dr Alice Correia, Dr, Hannah C. Jones, Dr Nina Trivedi and Dr Michelle Williams Gamaker. Their work responds to the African-Caribbean, Asian and African Art in Britain Archive at Chelsea, the Her Noise archive at London College of Communication, UAL, The UAL Tell Us About It Archive and the Chelsea College of Arts Archive and Henry Moore Archive housed in UAL's Chelsea Collections and Archives.
An e-paper, booklets and podcasts in collaboration with the artists Raksha Patel and Symrath Patti, from the starting point of information missing from the African-Caribbean, Asian and African Art in Britain Archive at Chelsea, to enquire if traces of uncatalogued artists could nonetheless be revealed.
An e-paper and series of original fanzines created in response to the Her Noise archive at London College of Communication, examining the inclusion and representation of non-binary artists, women of colour and whiteness.
Working with the Chelsea College of Arts Archive and Henry Moore Archive housed in Chelsea Collections and Archives, Michelle created a script in 3 parts, combining speculative fiction and humour. Justifiably repurposing the archive to experiment with what can happen if elements of the archive become separated from their context, it draws on the contributions of artists of colour to explore the different urgencies of the time.
2021 Decolonising Collections curatorial researchers in residence Harvey Dimond and Marenka Thompson-Odlum developed interventions into 3 public collections: Arts Council Collection, British Council Collection and Manchester Art Gallery.
Working across the 3 collections, Harvey’s e-paper and visual mapping examines recorded histories of Black communities in the North-West of England, exploring the correspondences between the geography of the United Kingdom and its working class, feminist and Black histories.
Markenka examined the taxonomy of coloniality within the language of the 3 collections, to identify stereotypes and unpick the ways coloniality is reiterated in their narratives. Her outputs are an e-paper, figures to accompany the essay and 2 audio recordings.
In her e-paper and interactive digital recording, Digital artist in residence Maybelle Peters remotely explored iniva’s digital archive at the Stuart Hall Library. ‘Finding a way to filter’ examines the questions raised from searching, accessing and using work such as Mary Evans’ CD-ROM work, ‘Filter’.
Now 3 years into its development, we explore the UAL Decolonising Arts Institute’s story so far.
Launched in Nov 21, the Transforming Collections: Reimagining Art, Nation, Heritage project, part of Towards a National Collection, is 6 months in. Read about our partners, our team, our work to date - and 4 new roles we're recruiting for Post-Doctoral Research Fellows.