M Shed, Bristol: Coslton converstations

Our challenge

How might we embrace radical hospitality to collaboratively create a flexible interpretive framework to meet the needs of local communities and the museum?

Protest and Colston Working Group

The toppling of the Colston statue is a Bristol story with international impact. Fundamental to this are issues around identity and belonging, and the push and pull of power. The way in which these are addressed will have lasting ramifications in Bristol and beyond.

A Bristol story: framed within the city’s history of activism

Building consensus, together

Narrative Threads designed and facilitated Working Group Roundtables for Bristol Museums services, looking at the story of protest and the Colston statue. The Working Group was comprised of community activists, artists, scholars and museum professionals, each with lived experience or in-depth knowledge of some facet of the story. The sessions were hosted by different Working Group participants to focus the conversations within the Bristol community. As we discussed the re-display of the statue together, we reflected on learnings from city-wide consultation, community needs and visitor expectations.

Deepening the conversation

The re-display of the Colston statue focuses on what the toppling means to the city, the people who live here, and around the world.

Colston in a wider context, showing that change results from acts both big and small

At its heart are key questions like: Who do we collectively memorialise? What does the toppling of this one statue mean to us now? What do we do when we encounter conflicting histories?

Crucially, the Working Group was extremely invested in ensuring that this display evolves with the needs of communities and reflects the changing times. Bristol Museums service worked with the outputs of these discussions, further developing the ideas with exhibition designers and members of the Working Group. The redisplay opened March 2024.

Output

Pulling together the insights from the Working Group, Narrative Threads developed a flexible Interpretation Framework for the redisplay of the Colston statue, with further Group questions and recommendations for future consideration.