‘Bristol Archives: Empire through the lens’ is an insightful exhibition that puts on display a fraction of the very extensive Bristol archives, formerly a part of the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. The photos and video clips are chosen by a selector panel, a mix of people of various ethnicities who have a link to the Empire, be it personal or via family members.

Three contemporary British artists of non-European origin, namely, Carla Busuttil, Mahtab Hussain and Faisal Hussain were invited to make works in response to the selected archives.

Busuttil has painted five different ceremonial African masks on cricket pads encased in acrylic boxes, much like relics are displayed in museums, as a means to critique the role of museums in promoting aspects of colonialism. The title, The Daisy Cutters — a phrase derived from the jargon of cricket, a sport of choice of the Empire that continues to be a main sport of various Commonwealth countries — further references colonial history and its attempts at culturing natives.

Mahtab Hussain’s sculptural work Did We Make A Mistake In Coming Here? is a framed, life-sized, horizontal, cobblestoned path that is dusted in gold, as was probably imagined by the natives of the colonies who migrated to change their lives for the better. Little did they know, as this gold path is interjected with 37 metal rods in between the cobblestones, each inscribed with major historical events that were racist and/or disadvantaged immigrants.

An exhibition in Birmingham looks at the lasting damage the British Empire’s colonisation of different countries had on their people

The references range from the Empire’s spread in the 16th Century, to post-World War II, to the present-day Nationalities and Borders Bill, debated in the UK Parliament this year. Hussain’s work attempts to understand the notion of belonging, while expressing the commonality between the Black people and South Asian people in the diaspora.

Faisal Hussain, employs commonly used phrases to explore migration and racism in sculpture that takes inspiration from restaurant signages commonly used on high streets in the UK. Hussain’s signage, installed above eye level, is best described in the accompanying statement: “His work We Are Here Because You Were There quotes A. Sivanandan’s direct reference to Britain’s colonisation of South Asia, to challenge what decolonial means in civic and public spaces.”

Hussain has a total of four circular, two-sided, internally lit pieces, one of which has the title of the work written on it. On another piece, overlaid over food imagery, is the popular, oft-heard phrase “Go back to where you came from.” Each quote is relevant today and loaded with meaning.

Of the archives on display, most were very potent and relevant. Each archive has the political scenario of that time and details of the selector and their reason for choosing that photo/video penned alongside it. Also accompanying the display are links to brief interviews of some selectors, relaying their interest in their chosen archive. An archival photo of the Mereweather tower in Karachi, circa 1910, is also on display.

Two archival images stood out for diverse reasons. The first, selected by Dr Mark Sealy from 1923, depicts a group of bare-chested African men lined up, their torsos used as blackboards, and the words Merry Xmas inscribed on their bodies, with a white family seated in the forefront of the photo. This was the family’s idea of a colonial Christmas card, sent back home to England while they were residing in the then colonised Nigeria. This photo explicitly expresses the treatment of the natives, who were treated more as objects than as human by the colonisers.

The other image, visually not-so-aggravating, depicts a black man in a white outfit/uniform, caring for a white baby as she eats her food outdoors. It is not so much the image as the interview of the selector, Professor Elizabeth Edwards, who believes that Britons don’t have colonial amnesia about their role as colonisers; instead they have the psychological condition aphasia, where they are unable to speak about the cruelty incurred in the Empire’s colonies.

She acknowledges the geopolitical damage colonisation caused, though the idea of amnesia versus aphasia seems to be rather forgiving, as opposed to helpful or healing.

It is an exhibition worth seeing to gain perspective, both for white people as well as Asians. It is particularly relevant for Pakistanis who still live in the shadow of colonialism, where our land is free but our minds are not — expressed via the English language complex or the pervasive culture of self-deprecation that relentlessly gives preference to all things non-Pakistani.

‘Bristol Archives: Empire through the lens’ is being exhibited at the Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham from July 9-September 11, 2022

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 14th, 2022