Hew Locke
Hew Locke, Souvenir 20 (Queen Victoria), 2024. Courtesy of the artist. Photo, Anna Arca.
What have we here? Join renowned Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke as he turns his lens on the British Museum collection in a collaborative exhibition exploring histories of British imperial power.
In this groundbreaking new show, Locke (born 1959) explores, questions and challenges narratives of British imperialism through objects from the British Museum collection, alongside specially commissioned new works. Offering a fresh perspective on the British Museum's history and collection, which are closely tied to those of the British Empire, Locke explores the messy and complex ways museums are implicated in these histories.
Courtesy of the artist. Photo, Richard Cannon.
Locke, who was born in Edinburgh and spent his formative years in Georgetown, Guyana, focuses on Britain's historical interactions with Africa, India and the Caribbean, all of which had a significant impact on the history of Guyana – informing a very personal exploration of the objects on display. Using interventionist techniques, he reframes historical objects, from the earliest surviving drawings of Indigenous Americans by a European artist to a Guyanese Akawaio feather headdress.
The Watchers, newly commissioned sculptural works by Locke, form a central part of the exhibition, with figures observing visitors from vantage points around the exhibition, and spilling out into the Museum's Enlightenment Gallery (Room 1).
This bold and exciting co-curated exhibition provides an opportunity to open up ongoing discussions around questions of history, ownership and identity.
The volume of problematic artifacts Locke uncovered in the British Museum’s archives illustrates the fundamental importance of objective historical research.
In "what have we here?," the Guyanese-British artist turns his probing eye toward the museum's own collection and the story it tells.
In "what have we here?," the Guyanese-British artist turns his probing eye toward the museum's own collection and the story it tells.
The artist’s pairing of unfamiliar African, Asian and South American objects with his own sculptures reveals dark and complex stories.
Let’s be clear: “alternative facts” are not a thing. But when it comes to alternative histories, which are British-Guyanese artist Hew Locke’s stock in trade, the words make a lot more sense.
While Locke is unflinchingly curious about objects from the collection that evidence Britain’s colonial and imperial past, his personable and reflective commentary make this a maverick and often moving take on questions that have recently become all too polarised and entrenched.
No object is just an object: everything is a symbol. And in Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke’s excellent exhibition of items from the British Museum’s endless archives and stores, every object is a symbol of power, dominance and exploitation.
This exhibition at the British Museum doesn’t so much prick the conscience as pummel it — we see the British Empire at its worst, but there’s no case for the defense.
In a show full of beauty and horror, which even includes ‘Jamaica’s Elgin Marbles’, the artist places his own works alongside those plundered by Britain from long-destroyed peoples.
After his triumphant Tate installation, The Procession, the artist is preparing a radical exhibition tackling Britain’s imperial past. He talks about why we must return plundered artefacts and rethink attitudes to heritage.
Sitting inside a grand office at the British Museum, with a bright green scarf draped over his slim black suit, Hew Locke, the 64-year-old British artist, is casting his mind back to the first time he visited its collection.
A major new exhibition by the renowned Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke to open at the British Museum in October.