Museum of Colour
A digital museum to explore, celebrate, and build recognition of the contributions made by people of colour to the nation’s culture
Museum of Colour (MoC)
Museum of Colour CIC (MoC) is a heritage and creativity social enterprise company founded by Samenua Sesher OBE and incubated at People’s Palace Projects. It is building a digital museum to explore, celebrate, and build recognition of the contributions made by people of colour to the nation’s culture, specifically in film, television, and the arts, 1766 – 2016. This is done through:
- Building exhibitions to explore each specific creative form with new content, portraits, filmed interviews, podcasts and digital artefacts to grow and shape a collection.?
- Working in partnership to build response exhibitions that commission contemporary creatives of colour to engage with existing British heritage and weave performance, debate and participations into the fabric of the museum.
As a digital museum, Museum of Colour has a national focus, and collaborates with artists and organisations across the UK.
Exhibitions
Museum of Colour’s first exhibition, celebrating those who have supported and uplifted writers of colour over 250 years. It was inspired by the correspondence between Laurence Sterne and Ignatius Sancho, and explores the journey of publishing throughout history, including its role in the abolitionist cause and shifting political contexts.
This exhibition was co-curated by Samenua Sesher (Museum of Colour) and David A. Bailey. It launched at Pitt Rivers Museum, and funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund.
A COVID-19 response exhibition seeking to pay respect to and raise awareness of nominated individuals of the global majority, at a time when they were disproportionately affected by the virus. Respect Due invited British creatives, journalists and heritage organisations to nominate an individual who shaped their creative journeys and helped pave the way for future generations.
This exhibition was launched at Pitt Rivers Museum, and funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation and National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Museum of Colour’s first artform exhibition, celebrating the power of poetry, spoken word, and oral history, and the work of British artists of colour over the last 250 years. The collection includes photographic and illustrated portraits, images of donated artefacts, and podcasts featuring poets, as well as commissioned response poems. My Words included multiple workshops on poetry and archiving, and a listening party celebrating Northern poets of colour.
This exhibition was co-curated by Samenua Sesher (Museum of Colour), Joy Francis (Words of Colour), and Melanie Abrahams (Renaissance One). It was conducted in partnership with Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, the British Library, and Manchester Poetry Library, where it launched in September 2022. The exhibition was funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, and Foyle Foundation.
A collaborative exhibition investigating the ideas and relationships that perpetuated systems of empire and slavery, and developing more inclusive processes of creation and curation. Artists were commissioned to respond to items from the Bodleian Libraries’ collections, selected by members of the public. These items and their responses are in the final exhibition, alongside an animated quiz testing knowledge of British colonial history. These Things Matter was MoC’s first live exhibition, held at the Bodleian Libraries November 2022 – February 2023.
This exhibition was co-curated by Samenua Sesher (Museum of Colour), Madeline Slaven (Bodleian Libraries), and Kieran Cox (Fusion Arts), and developed through a partnership between the three organisations. It was funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Museum of Colour’s second artform exhibition, reflecting on dancers and choreographers of the global majority and 250 years of their contributions to British dance. The exhibition features photographic portraits and donated artefacts, alongside podcasts and films. Live elements of the exhibition included the Charivari Carnival in Folkestone; participatory dance workshops at the Southbank Centre; and a curated event in Leeds featuring the specially choreographed dance performance Ageless, a roundtable with seminal figures in British dance, and a preview of the exhibition’s portraits.
This exhibition was co-curated by Samenua Sesher (Museum of Colour) and Farooq Chaudhry (Akram Khan Dance Company). It was developed in partnership with Strange Cargo, Southbank Centre, and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, and launched at Sadler’s Wells in April 2024. The exhibition was funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, and Foyle Foundation.
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