The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
The ancestors know
ROGER McKENZIE recommends an exhibition that explores the colonial plunder hidden in the collection, and the questions it raises
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
New releases from Thorpe and Morrison, Daria Kulesh, and Will Finn and Rosie Calvert
RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture
Emphasising his continuous engagement in labour movement struggles, ALISTAIR FINDLAY salutes John Foster’s contribution as activist, strategist, intellectual and defender of the Morning Star
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
Hew Locke – What Have We Here?
British Museum, London
I FEEL like I’m walking into one of those stolen goods storage areas in a police station when I walk into a museum. To me, museums are basically lock-ups.
No matter how much fancy language is used to try to finesse it, the basic truth is many of the “exhibits” in museums are there because some colonialist has decided to remove them from their rightful dwelling place, either to make money or to claim that the only “safe” place for them is in a museum.
Nevertheless, I love the British Museum — as a history buff I can’t help it! It is just full of all the things I want to find out more about. Much of it is the heritage that has been hidden or stolen from me.
More from this author
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
ANGUS REID time-travels back to times when Gay Liberation was radical and allied seamlessly to an anti-racist, anti-establishment movement
ANGUS REID speaks to historian Siphokazi Magadla about the women who fought apartheid and their impact on South African society
Similar stories
BEN CHACKO finds many parallels with present-day peaceful Chinese influence, as well as evidence of exploitation, in a historical exhibition
MARJORIE MAYO recommends an exhibition that asserts Palestinian history, culture and creativity in the face of strategies to erase them
FRANCOISE VERGES introduces a powerful new book that explores the damage done by colonial theft
HENRY BELL steps warily through the collection of a Glaswegian war profiteer to experience his collection of Degas’ remarkable images of working people