Young people across Liverpool are being encouraged to discuss, learn and share details of the city's history.
Liverpool Walker Art Gallery's new 'Carving Out Truths' project will explore how the Walker’s sculpture collection is linked to slavery, colonialism and empire in Liverpool. The project encourages applicants aged 18 - 24 from Liverpool’s Global Ethnic Majority communities to bring new voices and perspectives to the Gallery’s diverse audiences.
The new project follows the Walker Art Gallery's Colonial Legacies exhibit which ran through March and April this year. The exhibit encouraged young people to explore the Sandbach family.
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It involved group conversations about artwork commissioned by the Sandbach family using money gained from the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It gave a group of young people the opportunity to have a say on how Liverpool’s history of slavery is told to the viewing public.
Tavia Panton, former project leader, told the ECHO: “The conversations young people engaged in were brave, radically honest, inspiring, and healing. A new group of friends also emerged during this process.
"Young black people in the city can use this opportunity to honour and dignify our ancestors who have been silenced in the narrative of these art collections. They do this through questioning and truth telling.”
Anyone who would like to get involved in the new project is invited to attend a recruitment event on Friday, October 21 a the Walker Art Gallery. Paid opportunities are being offered and will give successful applicants a combined learning programme with hands-on experience working with museums.
Alex Patterson, from National Museums Liverpool, said: "The main message to emerge was this history is our combined history. It is the truth and we should tell it together.
“The young people were hard working, very ambitious, challenged the gallery's working practices and began to break down the hierarchies that exist within the institution. The gallery needs to continue this important work and create an environment where people can get involved in researching and sharing Liverpool’s history, particularly relating to slavery, colonialism and empire.
"It enables our visitors to think more broadly about the history and purpose of sculpture. Sculpture, more than any other artform, was influenced by Britain’s colonial past.
“It was used to demonstrate political power and celebrate civic pride. It continues to act as an important public reminder of Britain’s contested and violent past.
"This opportunity to re-interpret our display’s means we can be more transparent about the Walker’s collections, who commissioned the artworks and where the money came from to pay for them”.
The previous Sandbach project has been shortlisted for the Museums Association ‘Museums Change Lives’ Award (Reimagining the Museum section).
For information email thewalker@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk outlining why you would like to take part in the project visit: https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/research-projects-0
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