Reframing the Zulu Collection

Reframing the Zulu Collection presents a new interpretation of the Powell-Cotton Museum’s Zulu collection, bringing together objects collected by members of the Powell-Cotton family during their visit to Zululand in 1935.

For many years, museum displays and colonial collecting practices often represented Zulu people, and African cultures more broadly, through narratives rooted in exoticism, primitivism, and cultural hierarchy. This exhibition seeks to challenge those inherited perspectives by creating space for dialogue, reinterpretation, and reclamation. Building on the museum’s ongoing decolonisation work, including the Decolonisation in Practice East Africa project, it invites visitors to engage critically with the histories, meanings, and legacies embedded within the collection.

Looking beyond the objects

At the heart of the exhibition are voices that have historically been absent from the interpretation of these objects. The collection has been re-examined not simply as a group of artefacts, but as carriers of knowledge, memory, identity, and lived experience. This process has uncovered stories that remained hidden within the collection, including those of the individuals and communities who shared aspects of their culture and daily lives with Percy Powell-Cotton and his family.

Structured as a journey between past and present, the exhibition explores both the historical circumstances in which the collection was assembled and the continuing vitality of Zulu culture today. Visitors will encounter the lives of the people documented during the Powell-Cottons’ travels alongside the perspectives of contemporary Zulu individuals, who have generously contributed their knowledge, family histories, and cultural heritage to this project.

A collaborative approach

This work has been made possible through the dedication of the Community Advisory Board, whose expertise and commitment have shaped the exhibition; the Conservation Team, who prepared the collection for display; and external consultants from Zulu heritage backgrounds whose lived experiences and inherited knowledge have enriched the presentation of contemporary Zulu life in the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, and Durban.

Together, these contributions have transformed the collection from a record of colonial encounter into a space for shared knowledge, reflection, and renewed understanding.

The exhibition will be unveiled at a private viewing on 17 July before opening to the public on 18 July.

It will become a permanent exhibition within the Powell-Cotton Museum, ensuring these new perspectives remain part of the museum’s story for years to come.