Exhibiting slavery in Australia: Personal narratives and legacies

Abstract

The history of slavery has often been located on the same continuum as that of incarceration. This article explores the development of an exhibition representing the legacies of slavery in Australia, analysing Australian and international exhibitions alongside theories of museology, historiography and memory. It begins by considering the growth of slavery memory since the latter twentieth century, and Australia's own slavery heritage. The second half of the article focuses on curatorial directions and decisions taken in the exhibition, which our research team is currently developing in partnership with the Australian National Maritime Museum as part of an Australian Research Council project. Much of the project's research to date has been biographical, investigating the lives of individual slavers and colonists to explore colonial and racial frameworks still underpinning contemporary Australia. For the exhibition, we are investigating ways of expanding the scope to represent the lives and experiences of enslaved individuals. We are also exploring the challenges of retracing past lives, the potential limits of empathy, and the politics of ownership when telling stories about the past. This includes considering community participation, the biases and silences of the archives, and the use of art in representing the past.