The National Gallery’s own Maia Muttoo, William Helfrecht, and Natalie Urquhart recently attended the Transnational Island Museologies Conference at the University of St Andrews, Scotland – jointly hosted by the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM), the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews, and the Shared Island Stories Research Project (a European Research Council and UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) funded project).
Along with over 180 delegates from over 47 countries, the team participated in three days of sessions, workshops, and events that reflected on the role of museum practice and theory within the most pressing ecological issues of our times and specifically how these are affecting remote island and coastal communities. William presented a paper as part of the ‘Colonial Afterlives in Contemporary Art’ session, Maia contributed to a youth workshop entitled ‘Young people shaping the future of museology through the lens of the SDGs’ with colleagues from Scotland and Barbados, and Natalie, who also serves as a Project Advisor for the wider Shared Islands Stories Project, chaired a panel session on ‘Collective Memory and Difficult Knowledge’. The team was joined by follow Caymanian Hannah Reid from the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency who presented at a the session on Climate Emergency and Resilience.
In addition to many inspiring discussions, conference highlights included keynote speeches by Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, a Ugandan climate and environmental rights activist and founder of Fridays for Future Uganda, and Conal McCarthy, a Professor of Museum and Heritage Studies at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University in New Zealand, as well as a performance of traditional Scottish Gaelic music performed by Fiona Mackenzie.
The Gallery Team’s participation was supported in part by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Heritage. Thanks are extended to MYSH as well as to conference organizers (and Shared Islands Stories Project leaders) Professor Karen Brown, ICOFOM Chair and Jamie Allan Brown, ICOFOM Treasurer.