Tackling Imperial's history and heritage with a new project, Creative Connections.
A creative project tackling Imperial's history culminated in an art exhibition displayed on campus at the end of February.
Led by Sevinc Kisacik from the Public and Community Engagement team, with artist Christina Peake, Creative Connections delved into Imperial's heritage and explored how our staff and students feel about it today.
The project featured a range of online and in-person creative workshops involving Imperial's internal community, particularly those who felt they represented a marginalised community. The sessions explored the history of the Great Exhibition of 1851, pulling out stories which were more unknown, including insights into hidden histories such as LGBTQIA+ and disability history.
Reshaping narratives
The project revealed not only the depth of our history, but also the intersectional diversity that exists at Imperial today, with many participants identifying as global majority, from the LGBTQIA+ community, as having a disability or a combination of all three Sevinc Kisacik Public Engagement Programmes Manager (Inclusion)
The sessions gave participants the opportunity to share their lived experience and to reflect on how they felt about the university's history. They were then asked to take part in a creative activity crafting mini sculptures inspired by each other's stories. Through using narrative as a tool, these sculptures and the process of making them highlighted how we care for, retell and reshape the narratives that define us, whether these are narratives that we impose, or are imposed by others.
Sevinc said "It was fantastic to see such a diverse range of participants come together, from undergraduates all the way through to those completing doctoral, and staff from across lots of different sectors of Imperial.
We worked with diversity networks to ensure every branch of our community was included.
The project revealed not only the depth of our history, but also, in those who attended, the intersectional diversity that exists at Imperial today, with many participants identifying as global majority, from the LGBTQIA+ community, as having a disability or a combination of all three."
Reflecting historic voices
Christina researched the Great Exhibition of 1851, Victorianism, and imperialism, building on her previous work on the topic, and drawing on archive material from the Royal Commission of 1851 Archive as well as Imperial's.
She said: "The opportunity to reflect historic voices and those of the present was unique and welcome. I was amazed by the generosity of the students and staff that participated in the workshops and how much they shared... No project can answer all of the questions of an institution's history and heritage, however, I believe [Creative Connections]... is a point within a journey for Imperial, where ideally this project will inform future dialogue in the same way it was inspired by the past conversations and projects such as the History project."
The artist created two artworks in response to the research and workshops. Imperial Cosmologies – Where We Are Now… and Imperial Letters were exhibited in the College Main Entrance. Christina explained:
"These commissions were inspired by engaging the 1851 Royal Commission archives and the Imperial College archives such as the student journals, participatory workshops with staff and students and the
stories and debate that surfaced in those sessions."
The Societal Engagement team worked alongside staff and students from across the university to produce Creative Connections.
The Great Exhibition Road and beyond – Imperial's hidden histories
Amongst other hidden narratives, Creative Connections explored the story of Catherine Duleep Singh, suffragist god daughter of Queen Victoria who lived openly with her partner Lina and, at the end of her life, saved many from the Holocaust.
Participants also delved into the history of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first ever international exhibition showcasing industry, raw materials, art and design from Britain and abroad. India wasn't represented at the time India, but by the East India Company. It was the only country curated from this vantage point.
There were abolition protests at the Great Exhibition because of the presence of the USA, a country still using slavery.
If you'd like to learn more about engaging the public with your work, or need support developing an engagement project, please contact the team, or sign up to our newsletter.
