Last year, funded by the ArtFund’s Headley Fellowship, freelancer Kathleen Lawther worked with the museum to research and catalogue a collection of photographs taken in Somalia in 1934 to 1935 with the aim of making the collection more accessible. The project provides suggestions and case studies for how museums might approach people-centred cataloguing. The exhibition ‘Living Lineages: Bajuni lives in the Powell-Cotton Museum photographic archive’ is co-curated by Abira Hussein, Faiz Shee and Kathleen Lawther. It shows images of Bajuni people that lived off the coast of Somalia and northern Kenya and explores how a team of researchers traced the origins of Bajuni people from the 1930s, offering new ways of interpreting Britain’s colonial archives. It will be on display at the museum throughout 2023.

Dr Nicola Stylianou, Powell-Cotton Museum’s Head of Collections commented:

“We’re delighted to have been recognised for our People-Centred Cataloguing project as it truly shows the museum at its best – drawing on our amazing collections and archive and
putting people at the centre of who we are, and what we do. These photographs show the enormous potential of our archive to connect to people across the world – and how bringing them into the narrative helps us to create exciting and engaging displays for our audiences. We will be spending the prize money from the award to continue collaborating with Abira Hussein and Faiz Shee to uncover more stories about our photographs, and to make sure we properly record the contribution of Faiz, and his contacts in Kenya.”

A selection of the photographs are on display in the museum for visitors to view