22:03 28th march

i need to rant about the Manchester Art Gallery for a bit. I've been to a couple museums , not that many to be honest, the most similar to Manchester's that ive been too it the British history museum. Kinda just becuase theyre both huge buildings in the center of a city. But i think i hated my time at the BHM, we went on a school trip when i was 15, and i think it was fine at the time, but looking back all i remember was hundreds of artifacts from across the world grouped by race. This is the eypytian section, this is the african section, and thats all i remember. Most of the items may or may nothave been (but probably definately were) stolen from their home countries. I could've just been a dumb kid , but i dont remember this being a part of the coversation in these exhibits. its just extra context you should probably just ignore

So The differance with the Manchester Gallery is that the context is vital background information to apporach the works in each exhibit. The textile and fashion exhibit cant ignore slavery and where all that cotton came from, the infulence of travel section cannot ignore the impart of colonialism and cultural appropriation, and the climate change exhibit does not ignore the real life affects this has already had on the most vulnerable of us.

I love that the context is as important as the art itself, it really makes you engage with each piece in a deeper way and left a lasting impression on me, which is why im writing about it 5 hours later. If anyones reading this its gotta be clear that im really bad at talking about art, but i really couldnt stop thinking about this. Very different to the BHM where all i thought was "wow look at this one"

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I guess the aqusition of art and the context its created under are two different conversations , but at least at the manchester gallery they even try to address that making it clear where each piece is from , and even marking items that could've been stolen somewhere on the chain of ownership. I think just having access to this are is an extreme privilage, but that privilage is mostly enjoyed by the decendants of opressors and not the decendants of the original artists, so it comes across as way more gross when they're just in a box to point and look at and not engage with at all