I am a collector of things
driftwood
seeds
words
maps
I think I am careful with what I gather, to ensure it does no damage, only take what there is plenty of and what I have permission to take.
I recently visited the home and museum of a collection that has pressed all my buttons about colonial viewpoints in particular about collecting, museums and who has the right to do so.
Just outside of Margate at Birchington-on-Sea is the Powell-Cotton Museum at Quex House. Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton, 1866-1940, was an explorer and big game hunter . He created a purpose built museum on his estate that has on display 330 of this over 6,000 specimens. Working with famed taxidermist Rowland Ward and artists of the day he has created incredible dioramas with animals from across the world ranging from huge elephants, giraffes and Himalayan yaks to small marsupials, deers and monkeys. He also collected artifacts from communities where he travelled.
Its brilliantly laid out, educational, accessible and popular. Kudos to the current owners and descendents for how they have managed the grounds and collection.
My issue is that this is just one collection amongst hundreds around the world in the hands of public institutions and remaining in private hands. Collections of things taken from their place of origin.
Examples of antiquities can be found in museums all over the world.
Many now face the return of cultural objects if they were unlawfully exported from a foreign country. and if that country's government makes a request. The object proposed for return must form part of the cultural heritage of the other country and be protected by its laws.
There is a certain level of hubris involved with the big game hunters and collectors during the colonial era. It was sport and they exercised the right to pursue that sport and to take the spoils as trophies to adorn walls and to demonstrate power, wealth and importance.
Similarly we as humans have done that to countries and to the peoples of those places we have invaded or colonised. We assume a right to liberate. We assume a superiority. We send missionaries to be bearers of the light. We collect objects, people, material and cultural wealth.
Museums play an important role in helping us appreciate and understand ourselves. The act of collecting is a way of shining a light on what has been collected, enabling research and further understanding. However, as humans we have not learnt about balance and ecology in so doing. We have not appreciated the significance of items to the the places and peoples from which they are gathered assuming instead our collections are for the greater good.
I have no answers. I will remain sceptical and curious about collections and collectors. I wonder if humans of planet earth were a collection of an alien planet, what would be in that collection and what would it say about us?
