Future Tense: Conversations at Manchester Museum

Ero Sevan

2023 / 22 minutes
United Kingdom / United Kingdom
English

Using Manchester Museum as a local case study, Future Tense explores how colonial violence is embedded in the foundations of many museum collections across the United Kingdom. The contours of the ongoing debate surrounding the restitution and repatriation of looted objects are brought into focus through the perspectives of two key figures: Dr. Njabulo Chipangura, the museum’s Curator of Living Cultures, and Councillor Erinma Bell MBE, a peace activist and Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester. Both share their visions for decolonizing the future of Manchester Museum’s Africa collection, much of which remains hidden away in the building’s basement stores. Alongside the testimonies of Chipangura and Bell, Future Tense also features a creative intervention and poetic reflection by Manchester-born artist Rochà Dawkins, adding a layer of artistic engagement to the critical conversation about decolonization.