The exhibition will open on the 17th October.
The British Museum will present a brand new exhibition created by Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke, which will explore, question and challenge narratives of British imperialism through objects from the British Museum collection, alongside specially commissioned new works.
This display will offer visitors a new opportunity to British Museum’s history and collection, which are closely tied to those of the British empire as well as showing the complex ways museums are implicated in these histories.
Locke was born in Edinburgh and spent his formative years in Georgetown, Guyana. For this exhibition the artist will focus on Britain’s historical interactions with Africa, India and the Caribbean, all of which had a significant impact on the history of Guyana.
Using interventionist techniques, historical objects will be reframed from the earliest surviving drawings of Indigenous Americans by a European artist to a Guyanese Akawaio feather headdress.
It will include The Watchers, newly commissioned sculptural works by Locke formed of figures that observe visitors from vantage points around the exhibition.
Hew Locke: What Have We Here? is on display at the British Museum from the 17th October until the 9th February 2025.