THE little-known stories of some of the African people who played key roles in David Livingstone’s expeditions are being highlighted in an imaginative project to be launched at his Birthplace Museum in Blantyre, south Lanarkshire, this weekend.
Bringing together a touchscreen exhibit, mixed-media painting and creative writing, the display will explore the legacy of Scotland’s most famous explorer on the 150th anniversary of his death as well as expanding on the stories of his African crew members.
The exhibits, commissioned by the six participants from African, Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds who make up the Birthplace Exchange Group, will be unveiled at a special community-led event at the museum on Saturday.
The six have selected objects from the David Livingstone Birthplace (DLB) collection to expand upon and shed new light upon stories relating to his African crew members.
Among them is a fibrous urn that belonged to Abdullah Susi and James Chuma, two of his most valuable crew members, whose knowledge of languages and travel routes were pivotal to the success of his journeys.
The exchange group acknowledges that while there is limited knowledge of their story, its own research, conducted through community members and industry professionals, has included fibre analysis and microscopic imaging techniques that indicate that the urn is likely to have been made from coconut coir, a material frequently used in the shipbuilding industry of the pre-colonial Indian Ocean trade.
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Another new addition to the permanent exhibition is a mixed-media painting by the Glasgow-based artist, Josie KO, one of the DLB Community Researchers.
Her painting, ‘Glittering Hidden Figures’, draws from the statue of Livingstone in Glasgow Cathedral Square which she encountered when she first moved to Glasgow.
The statue depicts Livingstone as the central figure with enslaved African figures standing at his feet but in her painting KO aims to put a spotlight on the forgotten African figures and challenge colonial ideas about the superiority of European religions and cultures.
This Saturday is also the conclusion of ‘The Lion, the Scot and Mebalwe’, a community arts project carried out in April and May by the DLB exchange group in collaboration with the Congolese Community of Motherwell and the Thistles and Dandelions women’s group.
The title alludes to Livingstone being attacked by a lion during an expedition in 1884. Mebalwe was a South African school teacher who saved his life, though the event is often misrepresented with Livingstone as the hero. In a series of workshops, the groups have used the story of Livingstone and the Lion, and the Ray Harryhausen statue situated in the museum grounds, as inspiration to create new artworks that uplift marginalised African figures such as Mebalwe.
The community-led research group is one of seven projects hosted at different museums around the UK as part of the EXCHANGE Project, in partnership with the National Museum of Scotland and Royal Museum Greenwich.
The project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, has enabled community groups to explore experiences of empire, migration, and life in Britain through collections.
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Alasdair Campbell, the Curatorial and Engagement Manager at David Livingstone Birthplace, said: “It’s been a huge pleasure bringing the DLB Community-led research group together and being part of their journey researching our collection.
“Working collaboratively and co-curating new exhibits with the group has allowed us to bring vital new perspectives into our permanent exhibition and will create a lasting legacy for the project.”
Josie KO added : "Through our project it has been important to think about the crucial role that DLB holds in telling the untold stories of the African people who were part of David Livingstone’s journey. We were interested in how these stories can be used to consider Black Scottish history and to engage with the African communities who are living in Scotland in the present.”
* https://www.david-livingstone-birthplace.org/
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