Tsuktiben Jamir
TAKE on Art was founded in 2009; it is a premier English-language publication covering contemporary art and culture from and around South Asia. TAKE on Art magazine, which is published twice a year, commissions articles, profiles, extensive criticism, reviews, and photo studies from prominent critics both domestically and abroad. In regards to their mission, the Editor-in-Chief of TAKE on Art, Bhavna Kakar was invited to the inaugural week of the newly reopened Manchester Museum. The occasion was the commemoration of the new south Asian gallery in Manchester Museum, a collaboration with the British Museum as part of their renovation, an initiative to celebrate the experiences and contributions of South Asian diaspora in the UK.
One of the biggest university museums in the UK, the Manchester Museum is more than 130 years old. They have recently just reopened after being closed for a while due to ongoing renovation that will give it a new entrance, more space, and the platform to present stories in different new ways. The museum’s new multilingual exhibition, which is a part of the University of Manchester, explores the relationship between South Asia and Britain’s imperial heritage and offers novel viewpoints on British Asian and South Asian culture and innovation. This exhibition has been co-curated by the South Asia Gallery Collective, a group of 30 remarkable people belonging to Manchester’s South Asian diaspora communities, which includes community leaders, educators, artists, historians, journalists, and musicians. This versatility in backgrounds from all aspects of society is sure to produce a unique exhibition.
Courtesy: @takeonart
Together with new contemporary commissions and private items supplied by the South Asia Gallery Collective, it will display around 140 historical artefacts from the British Museum and Manchester Museum collections. This permanent gallery will undoubtedly showcase a variety of individual stories that provide visitors a peek into South Asia and their history and culture. TAKE on Art has confirmed that “the gallery’s story-led design reflects the plurality and diversity of South Asia through six overarching themes: Past & Present, Lived Environments, Science & Innovation, Sound, Music & Dance, British Asian, and Movement & Empire.”
Esme Ward, the museum Director told The Guardian, “You will essentially have a sense of diaspora and experience and contribution that you won’t find in any
Courtesy: Financial Times
other museum.” This is surely something to look forward to. Moreover, apart from the exquisite and unique museum artefacts, it will also convey lesser-known tales, such as the one about Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Darwen, Lancashire, in 1931, when he was asked to witness the sufferings brought on by the boycott of British products by the Indian independence movement.
The gallery’s goal is to bring attention to tales that aren’t frequently told in these circumstances. Nusrat Ahmed, one of the 30 co-curators said, “It has been hard for us British-born members of the diaspora to connect to our south Asian backgrounds. This a place I would bring my child and say, ‘This is your heritage.’ If you saw yourself in a museum, you’d go back — why wouldn’t you?”
This is undoubtedly a well thought and heartfelt initiative by the Museum where we will get to see, for the first time, the personal stories of the South Asian diaspora community.
