Midlands Art Papers 4

Midlands Art Papers Editor Sophie Hatchwell introduces this fourth issue of MAP and discusses one of common themes that run throughout the following articles: the ways in which art objects can help us understand what it's like to belong or not belong in different places and at different time.

Curator Rebecca Unsworth explores what the contents of a late nineteenth-century purse can tell us about the woman who owned it, and about the classification of collections at Birmingham Museums Trust.

Art Historian Alice Correia explores how the representation of South Asian artists in regional collections can help us rethink the hitherto exclusionary narratives of twentieth-century British art.

Helen Cobby and Rebecca Randle share their research on Bartolomé Esteban Murillo's painting The Marriage at Cana from the collection at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, and discuss what this work can tell us about the visibility of Black history in art museums.

Curator Victoria Osborne and Art Historians Sabrina Rahman and Kate Nichols discuss their British Art Network Research Group ‘Race, Empire and the Pre-Raphaelites’, and how they are exploring the potential for rethinking Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts objects through the lenses of anti-racism and decoloniality.

Curators Jane Simpkiss and Louise Campbell introduce their exhibition ‘Modern Mercia’, held at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum