Lunchtime Talk: Uncovering What We Carry: Hidden Histories, Digital Art and Decolonial Museum Practice

A photograph of two works. One shows a colonial era man with the words 'the colonial urge to extract exploit expel' above him. The other work shows two disembodied arms with passports dangling from strings attached to their fingers.

Image © Grace Lee

Join multidisciplinary artist Grace Lee (SOME.GAL) to explore how animation and digital storytelling serve as powerful tools for decolonising museum practices and uncovering hidden histories.

Drawing on her animated works, The Colonial Urge with the Bodleian Libraries and Museum of Colour, and Not Made In Great Yarmouth with Time and Tide Museum, as well as her upcoming participatory project with Francis Crick Institute's ancient DNA exhibition, Grace examines how digital media can challenge institutional narratives while centring marginalised perspectives.

Using participatory installations and animation as a method of visual essay, Grace demonstrates how multimedia approaches create accessible entry points to complex historical narratives, reimagining how cultural heritage is presented. The talk will explore the intersection of museums, archives, and ancestral memory, while addressing questions of neurodivergent access and the politics of knowledge production.

Grace will share practical approaches to collaborative creation with communities, ethical considerations in representing cultural narratives, and how museums can transform from sites of static display to dynamic platforms for dialogue, healing, and reclamation.

This talk is part of the programme of events complementing the exhibition Sheffield Stories: Caribbean Footsteps at Weston Park Museum, which continues until May 2027.

Suggested donation £5 – Please donate if you're able and help keep your museums open and available for everyone to enjoy.