A new exhibition opening at Manchester’s Portico this week invites audiences to engage with the collection of the Library and the communities who are reclaiming the colonial narrative written and illustrated in the Library’s books.
Echoes seeks to navigate Britain’s complex colonial relations with China and Hong Kong, by centring the voices of the five Critical Friends who have co-created the exhibition: Bruce Lai, Deborah Ng, Jasmine Gardner, Jessie Tam, and Yichao Shi.
The exhibition features commissioned artistic responses from Critical Friends and local filmmakers, which encapsulate a counternarrative to the Victorian collection.
These include:1. ‘I think you’re wrong . . . England isn’t racist, I never hear any racism’ – A white man from Essex named Andrew, 2020, by Jasmine Gardner.
2. ‘Mother Tongues, by Matthew Lingard
3. ‘A Cloud Was Fallen from the Sky’ by Jessie Tam
The exhibition has also been supported by the expertise of Walter Fung, Maxine Hunter and Fang Zong. Most of the exhibition text will be in English and simplified Chinese.
The exhibition runs from 20th January to the 30th May
