Transforming Museums, Decolonizing Minds: Three Politically Aesthetic Interventions by African Diaspora Artists

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines forms of activism in which artistic expression features as a means of raising awareness and catalyzing progressive change on matters of equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice. Focusing in particular on anti-racist and decolonial activism within the context of art museums, experimental project spaces and collections of ethnography, selected works from the oeuvres of contemporary African diaspora artists and curators are foregrounded to highlight various ways that creative interventions conceptualized by people of color are positively impacting on museum education and institutional change – in the UK, as well as throughout Europe and the West more broadly. The analysis takes into consideration the transformational impacts that artists’/artist-curators’ installation projects, research residencies, and exhibitions can provoke amongst museum staff, visiting audiences and wider publics. Three case studies of art-political activism from the portfolios of contemporary visual artist-curators Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Yinka Shonibare CBE and Zak Ové serve to exemplify how creative approaches to anti-racist and decolonial activism complement and augment more customary museum education program offerings, policy-related interventions, and protest-based action within the arts and heritage sectors.