Breathe! Histories of Colonisation in 3 Objects

Tuesday 16 August, 18.30 - 20.00 

Book your free place here: https://bit.ly/3Pn2rcv

breathe event uk

Museums are said to be places of fact, where we can learn about history. But whose version of history do they tell? When you step into a museum, whose histories and stories do you see represented in their displays? Are they histories of control or histories of resistance?

BREATHE! Histories of Colonisation in 3 Objects brings together 12 young people from Oxford and Vienna to address these questions and to explore European colonial history in Africa through researching objects from Nigeria and Zimbabwe in the Pitt Rivers Museum. 

Through the project, they will create 3 short films exploring heritage, diasporic identity and histories of colonisation. These films will be screened at the Pitt Rivers Museum on Tuesday 16 August at 6.30pm. 

Join us for an evening of film and conversation! The screening itself will take place in the Lecture Theatre and will be followed by a Q&A. You will then be invited to enter the museum after-hours and connect with the objects that inspired the films. There will be an informal conversation about the films on the Clore Balcony.

The films

We will screen 3 films, each made by the young people involved in the project These films will explore the histories of African civilisations and the histories of colonisation that followed through 3 objects from Zimbabwe and Nigeria. They will also communicate the experiences and identities of the young people who have made them.

The films will focus on the following objects:

  • A carved ivory tusk from Benin (Nigeria)
  • An Ekpo mask (Nigeria)
  • An mbira (Zimbabwe)