Identifications for the Kent and Sussex Uniques project

Hastings Museum has three Mfengu bead ornaments with amazingly long panels, from South Africa. Len Pole and the curator, Catherine Harvey is keen to know of other museums with this particular type of ornament. These ones were probably donated to Hastings by G.P. Floureaux. All are similar to the one illustrated in Margret Carey’s Beads and Beadwork of East and South Africa, fig. 23 Shire Ethnography publications, 1986).

One of these extra long panelled ornaments featured in a group of Xhosa beadwork auctioned by Bonhams in November 2011.

A brief history of the Mfengu people is given on the Ekwazantu site

“The Mfengu are Nguni people, mostly of Bhele, Hlubi and Zizi origin, who fled during the early 19th century upheavals in Natal known as the Mfecane - Lifaqane or Difaqane. They arrived in what is today the Eastern Cape - where they were eventually suppressed by the local Xhosa chiefs. Their tribal name Ama-Fengu, Fingo or Mfengu,  means 'The Wanderers'  or 'Foreigners'. Mfengu speak what we call the Xhosa language, but do not consider themselves Xhosa. Their beaded tribal dress was adapted from the Xhosa, but remained with distinguishing factors. All over the region, a person's home area, ethnic sub group, age, marital status and sometimes the amount of children one had, could all be communicated through items of dress’.

On the web I also came across this little booklet featuring South African beadwork on stamps by 8^th Definitive, produced in 2010.

Hastings also have three clay pipe bowls labelled as Asante from Ghana, acquired from the Misses Brandford Griffith. Len Pole says: see comments by Cole in Arts of Ghana, pp 55-59; also Pipe Book, p.184.  Sir William Brandford Griffith was governor of the Gold Coast from 1885-95, but he was unlikely to have visited Kumasi. A selection of Ghanaian pipe bowls can be found on the pages of the Amsterdam Pipe Museum devoted to African Pipes. You’ll find figured examples from the Lobi and Frafra as well as the Asante.  

The British Museum has a detailed description of two small gold and wood tobacco pipes held as part of its Asante Gold Regalia, in the online collection group catalogue authored by Fiona Sheales. 

Are there any other museums with Asante figured pipes out there? A collections search for tobacco pipes Ghana brings up another Asante pipe, a museum number Af, Cb.10, in the form of a letter, unfortunately with no photo yet.

Rachel Hemingway-Hurst from Uniques has just announced that this project's own website has gone live. Do take a look! 

Antonia Lovelace

MEG Chair and Curator of World Cultures, Leeds Museum

The Power of Paper: 50 Years of Printmaking in Australia, Canada and South Africa at MAA Cambridge

As part of the exhibition The Power of Paper: 50 Years of Printmaking in Australia, Canada and South Africa at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge engaging with the techniques used by artists in the exhibition, a series of workshops and demonstrations held by professional printmakers will be held on the first and last Sunday of each month. 

For the opportunity to make your own print, workshops will be held from 2 - 4 pm,using the printing press featured in the exhibition. There are 8 places for each workshop, so booking is essential (£20/£15 concessions, including materials).

The demonstrations, which focus on the process of a particular printing technique, will be held from 1 - 3 pm, in the ground floor gallery space at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, within The Power of Paper exhibition. 

Relief Printmaking Workshop with Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith

Sunday 3 May, 2 - 4pm

£20/£15 concessions. Ages 12+

8 places available, material supplied, booking required 

You will be introduced to Relief printmaking, using easy cut lino with paper stencils and tools to create cutting marks. Using wooden spoons to print the lino blocks, the workshop will give you the skills to make relief prints at home without the need of a press. Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith, recent graduates from the MA Printmaking course at Cambridge School of Art, will lead the workshop.

Drypoint Printmaking Demonstration with Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith

Sunday 31 May, 2 – 3 pm

Admission free, no booking required.

Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith, recent graduates from the MA Printmaking course at Cambridge School of Art, will lead this Drypoint printmaking demonstration.

Reduction Monoprint Workshop using Paper Stencils and Wipe Away Marks, with Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith

Sunday 7 June, 2 – 4 pm

£20/£15 concessions. Ages 12+

8 places available, material supplied, booking required. 

You will be introduced to Monoprint (transfer and plate) enabling you to create prints with drawn and wipe away marks as well as the use of paper stencils.  Using wooden spoons to print the plates, the workshop will give you the skills to make Monoprints at home without the need of a press. Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith, recent graduates from the MA Printmaking course at Cambridge School of Art, will lead the workshop.

Linocut Printmaking Demonstration with Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith

Sunday 28 June, 2 – 3 pm

Admission free, no booking required.

Lynne E. Windsor and Lizzie Smith, recent graduates from the MA Printmaking course at Cambridge School of Art, will lead this Linocut printmaking demonstration.

Printmaking Workshop with Atta Kwami

Sunday 5 July, 2 – 4 pm

£20/£15 concessions. Ages 12+

8 places available, material supplied, booking required.

Blind Embossing Workshop with Julie Fairlie

Sunday 2 August, 2 – 4 pm

£20/£15 concessions. Ages 12+

8 places available, material supplied, booking required.

In this workshop you will make a ‘blind embossed print’. Embossing can be used to make a raised image on the paper, rather like a low level relief. It can be combined with other techniques, however, the main delight is the pure white, blind embossed, tactile image which results from cutting the image into a medium such as lino and using the printing press.  When illuminated with a side light, or ‘raking light’ it can be particularly beautiful.

Drypoint Printmaking Workshop with Curwen Print Study Centre

Sunday 20 September, 2 - 4 pm

£20/£15 concessions. Ages 12+

8 places available, material supplied, booking required.

An immediate and sensitive intaglio process giving you the ability to create intricate and detailed images with a rich characterful line. Working with a contemporary, adaptable material that can be treated traditionally or experimentally. Curwen Print Study Centre will lead this Drypoint printmaking workshop.

Introduction to Lino with Curwen Print Study Centre

Sunday 1 November 2 – 4 pm

£20/£15 concessions. Ages 12+

8 places available, material supplied, booking required.

Cut into the block and print from the surface to develop relief printmaking skills, creating bold and colourful prints with Lino. Curwen Print Study Centre will lead this Lino printmaking workshop.

Dry Point Workshop with Curwen Print Study Centre

Sunday 6 December 2 – 4 pm

£20/£15 concessions. Ages 12+

8 places available, material supplied, booking required.

An immediate and sensitive intaglio process giving you the ability to create intricate and detailed images with a rich characterful line. Working with a contemporary, adaptable material that can be treated traditionally or experimentally. Curwen Print Study Centre will lead this Drypoint printmaking workshop.

Museum Stores as a resting place: Working with human remains

The last month has seen a renewed Swedish public debate about human remains. In the basement of Karolinska Institutet, the institution behind the Nobel Prize in Medicine, a large collection of human skulls and bones was found. It is a reminder of the central role Sweden played in phrenology and race biology, of the central role race biology played in pre-war Sweden. For some this has been news, for others the continuation of a long discussion on how we shall deal with the fact that many museum and hospital stores contain such collections. The Swedish government has now decided that ten of these human crania shall be returned to New Zealand and French Polynesia. These have had specific requests for repatriation. Still there will remain well over 500 crania in this collection only. 

For me it brings back memories from when I started out at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm in 2006, as a photographer for a large project for digitalization of the collections. I was hired to photograph the vast collections of objects from Papua New Guinea and Congo. The shelf in my studio was constantly re-filled with new objects of all kinds. It was my first assignment as a museum photographer and I found it amazing to get to see all these objects up close.

After just a short while into my work I started to find crania on my shelves: more and more of them every day, many with notations written directly on them, by hand. My stomach clenched. Had they forgot to inform me about this?

I found out that the government had commissioned us to make an inventory of human remains. All such material in the Museum of Ethnography should now get a photo image, made by me. Was that a problem?

It wasn’t the first time I met death as a photographic theme. I had previously made a photo reportage about the morgue at Västervik Hospital and I had documented grave yard workers in Gothenburg during a whole year. These were both about death in an expected context, though. This was something completely different. It wasn’t easy to understand.

Vertigo.

White boxes stood waiting on the shelf; a thumb; a dried lower leg with a tattoo; and all these crania with loose jaws. I couldn’t just bite the bullet and put on my cotton gloves.

Not now. I took care of the shell necklaces first. And then came the next day. Repeat.

All this material had once been alive. Hundreds of body parts in my hands. How did they all get here?

I looked into a box with a cranium that had some skin left at the top of the head. Come on, I encouraged myself. Breathe. Push off.

Dead stop.

I looked at my watch. Soon our cleaner Carlos would show up to sweep the floor. At last. I had a plan to get this done. I nervously waited for him, greeted him with a big smile. Then, with his unintentional help, I lifted the first cranium out to the backdrop and took the photograph. Carlos did not comment on it, for him it was probably just another day in the museum stores. I was relieved, and hurried to finish another one before the floor was swept.
I had crossed the threshold and could go on with my inventory. Still, my head is full of questions about what is the right thing to do with these materials today, or, the least bad.

Eventually we were done. Human remains from around 800 individuals had gotten clean boxes, photo documentation and as much information as had been possible to dig out.
Guidelines for the handling of human remains in museum stores were developed. An exhibition called (In)human was produced in cooperation with The Living History Forum and the Swedish Exhibition Agency along with a publication (in Swedish only) on Human remains – a problematic cultural heritage. 

What is the situation in the stores today? Some human remains have been repatriated, while most others are still there in their white cardboard boxes. From time to time I have business in that part of the stores. It doesn’t cause my heart to race any more.

Museums have a history that we cannot shut our eyes to. Now I am a part of it. At first it was very reluctantly. Then a feeling grew that this inventory work was necessary, that it focused an important part of history.




Rose-Marie Westling works as a photographer at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm.

Date: 29th April 2015, from 6.45 pm Venue: Free World Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA This event is ticketed. Full price £5.00, concessions available Chim↑Pom, the six-strong artist collective known as the enfant terrible of Japan's art  scene, create distinctive works that challenge contemporary social problems, and the  realities that we choose not to see. Formed in Tokyo in 2005, the group's approach is  underscored by the use of found objects, mass media, and chance. Chim↑Pom work mainly  in video but their many mixed medium creations look beyond traditional aesthetic  standards to construct coded narratives that drive compelling messages about limitations  and boundaries, both literally and figuratively. Through critical thinking and creativity  they tackle themes including urbanisation, celebrity, and more recently, the tsunami and  nuclear incidents of 3/11. Fresh off their success at this year's Prudential Eye Awards, where they won not only "Best Emerging Artist Using Digital/Video" but were also named "Best Emerging Artist of  the Year", two members of this provocative collective, Ryuta Ushiro and Ellie, have been  invited to map Chim↑Pom's diverse career. Preluding their first group exhibition in London,  by the mountain path held at the White Rainbow Gallery, they will explore how they came  to be and why their work pushes the limits of contemporary Japanese art and the Japanese  art scene. After their presentation, Ushiro and Ellie will be joined in conversation by  Dr Sook-Kyung Lee, Research Curator of Tate Research Centre: Asia-Pacific. This event is organised in association with Free Word, White Rainbow Gallery and  Mujin-to Production. The exhibition by the mountain path will be held at White Rainbow Gallery from 29 April to 20 June 2015.

Job Vacancy: Assistant Curator - Visiting Researchers Pitt Rivers Museum

The Pitt Rivers Museum is seeking an Assistant Curator who will assist the Pitt Rivers Museum to facilitate research access to the museum’s object collections. They will help to manage and plan visits to the collection which includes retrieving and returning objects from display and enhancing the object database with any information or detail as might occur from the visit. The postholder will also assist with monitoring of day-to-day storage conditions of collections, identifying conservation issues and liaising with Conservation. They will also be asked to assist with object packing, moving and returning to storage or display.

The ideal candidate will have a good level of education including museums or equivalent heritage experience. They should have excellent written and oral communication skills and show evidence of accuracy and attention to detail. Experience of using catalogue databases within a museum environment is essential as is handling museum objects in a safe and secure manner.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 noon on Wednesday 23 April 2015. Interviews will take place a week later.

For full details visit the University of Oxford website. 

NatSCA Conference: Museums unleashed: using traditional and social media to communicate collections

Museums Unleashed intends to provide a way for collections-focussed staff to become more comfortable and better informed about dealing with digital and traditional media
Engaging wider audiences with collections is a key objective for many museums and
digital and traditional media provide powerful tools for doing this, but the ways in which new technologies can be used to make collections more accessible in a meaningful way can be difficult to appreciate for the uninitiated. 

Even for those who are familiar with using digital media, there are discussions to be had about using them more effectively and avoiding some of their pitfalls.






The conference is organised by NatSCA and draws on the experience of media professionals from the BBC, journalists, digital media specialists and collections staff from a variety of disciplines who will share their experiences and some helpful hints. 


The content of many of the talks is in reference to natural science collections, however the theme of getting collections out there to wider audiences may also be of interest to curators from across different subject specialisms.

To find out more information including how to book and a full programme, visit the NatSCA website. 

British Museum Conference on Museums and Communities in Australia and Eastern Africa

Challenging Colonial Legacies Today: 
Museums and Communities in Australia and eastern Africa

Organised by The British Museum in association with the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, Kings College London

Time and Date: Saturday 2nd May 2015 10am – 5pm
Location: British Museum

Price: £10 or £5 Concession

Timed to coincide with the BP exhibition Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation, this one-day conference will bring together an international panel of speakers to consider how museums in both the metropole and the periphery of what was ‘empire’ are challenging colonial legacies through contemporary museum practice. Through a comparative focus on Australia and East Africa, the conference will consider the contribution which museums and their collections can make in building new and strong local communities.

Speakers:

Conference Chair: Professor Howard Morphy (Australian National University)  

Australia

Jilda Andrews (Australian National University/National Museum of Australia).  Off-country: the cultural life of collected material
Dr Louise Hamby (Australian National University).  Makarra­ta: Bringing About Understanding
Dr Ian Coates (Head Curator, National Museums of Australia).  Old Objects Made New
Dr John Carty (Australian National University).  Collecting Country: some conceptual challenges from Australia in museums, heritage and history  

Eastern Africa

Professor Annie Coombes (Birbeck, University of London). Photography Against the Grain: Rethinking the Colonial Archive in Kenyan Museums
Nelson Abiti (University of East Anglia/Uganda Museum). Title: TBC
Dr John Giblin (Head of Africa Section: British Museum). Post-Conflict Community Heritage and the Uganda Museum  

Information and booking here.
For all enquiries not related to booking please email Rachael Murphy.