Uncomfortable Truths project at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery have launched a project to uncover uncomfortable truths behind certain museum objects. Many object labels in museums do not tell the full story.
In collaboration with the museum, a group of UWE Bristol alumni and students have curated 'Uncomfortable Truths' a trail accompanied by a series of podcasts and object labels.
The trail reveals how objects were collected, what they represent, and the difficult pasts that are hidden behind them. Objects include a Benin bronze head, an Egyptian mummy, and a taxidermy rhino.
Graphic Design alum Stacey Olika worked as Project Assistant. Stacey's job was to coordinate activity, recruit students and encourage conversations as difficult questions of ownership and accountability were tackled. For Stacey the important things now is what happens next. “This conversation and this history is much bigger than us but little drops make a mighty ocean. We still have a long way to go but it is a first step of many to incite positive change.”
The museum is capturing audience response to this pilot project to inform a more long-term approach.
Watch Stacey's Instagram takeover to find out more.
Related news
03 April 2025
Interdisciplinary studio bridging the gap between creative industries and technology opens at UWE Bristol
A new £3.6m laboratory has opened at UWE Bristol which will provide a unique arts, humanities and technologies multi-disciplinary space for researchers, entrepreneurs and businesses across the West of England.
07 March 2025
UWE Bristol and Ashton Park School transform urban landscape near university campus
Students bring creativity and a splash of colour to a well-used city underpass by painting a new mural celebrating diversity and inclusivity.
07 March 2025
UWE Bristol students triumph at regional RTS Awards
UWE Bristol filmmaking and animation students won three categories of the RTS West of England Student Awards, held at Watershed in Bristol on 3 March 2025.
03 February 2025
Exhibition celebrates inaugural year of students’ creative agency
Students from UWE Bristol’s New Wave Creative Agency will showcase their work at an exhibition at Arnolfini from 8 February.
22 January 2025
Talent collaboration programme UWE Futures expands to support diversity in Bristol's legal and creative sectors
UWE Bristol's talent programme, UWE Futures, which offers paid work experience to global majority students, has expanded in its second year to include more legal firms and a leading organisation in Bristol’s creative sector.
07 January 2025
Assistant Vice-Chancellor selected to join Creative Industries Taskforce
Assistant Vice-Chancellor Lynn Barlow has become part of a new taskforce to help deliver a plan to grow the UK’s creative industries.
10 December 2024
UWE Bristol wins TIGA Games Industry Award
UWE Bristol has won an award for Best Education Initiative at the 2024 TIGA Games Industry Awards.
09 December 2024
UWE Bristol architecture students return from ‘once in a lifetime’ bamboo pavilion build in Ethiopia
UWE Bristol architecture students travelled to Ethiopia where they designed and constructed a large-scale bamboo pavilion in a park close to the capital city.
27 November 2024
Carol Vorderman receives honorary doctorate from UWE Bristol
Broadcaster and writer Carol Vorderman MBE has been awarded an honorary degree by UWE Bristol.
22 November 2024
UWE Bristol professor unveils blue plaque honouring Bristol’s Cary Grant
Dr Charlotte Crofts joined Historic England to unveil a blue plaque celebrating the Hollywood star.
11 November 2024
UWE Bristol alum wins at TIGA UK Games Education Awards 2024
Kieran De Sousa, a UWE Bristol BSc (Hons) Games Technology graduate, has won a top video game industry award.
28 October 2024
Artist Sir Richard Long on the line up of UWE Bristol events announced for Being Human Festival
UWE Bristol will host a conversation with Bristol artist and sculptor Sir Richard Long as part of the Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of humanities.