Projects with the British Museum’s Collections

Projects with the British Museum’s Collections

Am2006,Drg.13964. Tepetlaoztoc Codex. (segment). ©Trustees of the British Museum

The Central and South America collection contains approximately 62,000 objects, of which just 0.6% is currently on display to the public.

This platform illustrates the many and varying kinds of collections research that the Centre actively supports the remaining 99.4%. Many of the objects held in anthropology museums were collected for scientific purposes. Early anthropologists put together comparative collections in order to extrapolate grand historical narratives.

These objects have since been regarded as holding immutable value and their importance has been linked to their capacity to accumulate knowledge through time.

The Centre co-develops projects that contest these assumptions to show that the objects in the museum’s collections have shifting and evolving meanings, and that their histories reflect political realities.

The Centre provides physical access to our collections, and the digitisation of this work has the potential to reach and engage audiences worldwide.

Tributaries: the Chocó collection and Afro-Colombia

Afro-Colombian writer Velia Vidal has worked on the Chocó collection, which gathers about 200 objects collected by Brian Moser and Donald Tayler in the 1960s. Here she describes the collaborative project that addresses topics such as racism, colonialism, and the way ‘the other’ is depicted within anthropological and cultural processes.

‘The mask is looking at us’: Afrodescendant representation in Bolivian carnival

Sharon Pérez focuses on creating visibility for the Afrodescendant communities in Bolivia through her artistic practice. By painting portraits, on rusting metals or daily-use furniture such as chairs, window frames or doors, large-scale installations and peformance she seeks to break the circulation of stereotypes of Afrodescendant bodies.

Untold Microcosms: Latin American Writers in the British Museum

A new international collaboration between the SDCELAR and the Hay Festival will inspire new stories based on items from the Americas collection that are not on display in the galleries.

Maya Blue: Painting from the Past in the Present

The clay-dye composite 'Maya Blue' was made in Mesoamerica from as early as the third century CE until shortly after the conquest of the region by Spain in the 16th century. Codices, pottery, wall paintings and sculptures were painted with this pigment and today, Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists are recreating it using new practices.

Birds/Clay: Digital Artist Residency at the British Museum

Jorge Martínez Valderrama is a sound artist and inaugural digital resident of the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research. He presented 'Saa Ñu’ú' (Birds/Clay) for the first time to the public through a digital open studio via Zoom in June 2021.

Matching-up the Muisca past and present: Virtual cultural heritage

The British Museum holds more than 200 objects that are classified as Muisca or Chibcha. The vast majority of them has been kept in storage since their acquisition into the museum’s collection. The direct descendants of the Muisca have never visited the museum or asked for access to these objects.

Gaining insight: Indigenous positions towards digitisation and open access

The British Museum has collections that interest all kinds of people, in particular those who want to learn about world cultures. However, not all the objects that are at the museum are on display: There are ethnographic and archaeological collections from the Americas, especially from Indigenous communities from Latin America and the Caribbean, which are kept in storage.

Chile, colonial practices in the past and present

Patria Invisible

Cookies | © 1999 - 2024. All rights reserved

Web development by Lilo London