This summer we started a conversation around our collections. Here we are launching a series of three podcasts that delve into some of the bigger questions around our displayed collections.
Each podcast has been made with a different community partner, who has collaborated with the Museum to lead a discussion on a collection, or object, that ignites their passion, or speaks to their interests. The project has come out of our work to ‘reimagine’ the Powell-Cotton Museum. It is an opportunity to provide a different perspective on our collections, and to pick up some of the complex stories from our Museum’s past that can’t always be told in a word-limited text label.
The three podcasts in this series are:
Episode 1: In conversation with Juma Ondeng
In this Q&A, Inbal Livne (former Head of Collections, Powell-Cotton Museum) chats to Juma Ondeng (Keeper Antiquities, Sites and Monuments-Western Region, National Museum of Kenya) about the Powell-Cotton Museum’s Kenyan collection and the work of the International Inventories Programme (https://www.inventoriesprogramme.org), which is digitally connecting Kenyans with their cultural heritage held in European museums. You can view the Museum’s Kenyan collections in Gallery 2.
This podcast is 25 minutes long.
Episode 2: In conversation with Margate Pride
In this episode, Emma-Jayne Hamlington (Learning and Outreach Officer, Powell-Cotton Museum) chats with Mia Pollak from Margate Pride (https://www.margatepride.org.uk). Emma-Jayne and Mia examine the Museum’s Kanga collection – textiles that tell a story – and discuss the importance of wearing your identity, especially in situations when you might find yourself unable to safely speak your mind.
This podcast is 21 minutes long.
Episode 3: The ‘Didinga Skirmish’ Reframed
In this episode, Lucy Edematie (freelance writer, curator and consultant working with Powell-Cotton Museum) chats with Nalimaakono Odeng Lomujalamoi (Community leader, researcher & historian of the Didinga & Larim peoples). Lucy and Odeng will be discussing Percy Powell-Cotton’s encounter with the Didinga people in the early 1900s, the circumstances in which he acquired artefacts from them, and what it means today for Didinga cultural heritage to be housed in the Powell-Cotton Museum.
This podcast is 24 minutes long.
You can listen to these podcasts on Spotify at Collections Conversations . There is also a bitesize version available to listen to in the Museum’s galleries. For visitors who do not own a smartphone, we have MP3 players and headphones available, with the podcasts already loaded up.
With thanks to the South East Museums Development ‘Creative Collections’ Fund for a grant to support this project. You can find out more about the fund here: https://southeastmuseums.org/support/grants/creative-collections.
The podcasts were made with the assistance of James Whiting (https://www.jameswhiting.co.uk) for sound editing and recording support and Pie Factory Music (https://piefactorymusic.com) for studio space.