Glasgow Museums explores how colonial histories, race and trade have been represented through printmaking in this specialist Black History Month tour.
Using works from the city’s museum collection, the session examines how prints have recorded, interpreted and sometimes shaped public understanding of empire and the people affected by it.
Gallery Assistant and printmaker Lizzie Eidson leads visitors through examples ranging from historical etchings to contemporary screen prints, considering the presence of African and Caribbean diasporas within colonial contexts.
Print was one of the most powerful forms of mass communication long before photography, television or social media.
Images could travel widely, influencing how people who had never visited Africa or the Caribbean imagined those places and their inhabitants.
That means prints can reveal as much about the attitudes of the people producing and consuming them as they do about the subjects depicted.
Glasgow has a particularly important relationship with these histories.
The wealth generated through Scotland’s involvement in colonial trade left traces across the city, and museums today are increasingly examining how objects entered their collections and how historical narratives have been presented.
The tour considers those legacies through techniques including intaglio, transfer and silkscreen printing, looking at both historic material and contemporary artistic responses.
It also asks how modern printmakers can revisit colonial imagery and challenge older assumptions.
That makes Colonialism in Print a valuable Black History Month event for anyone interested in art as historical evidence.
Rather than looking only at what an image shows, visitors are encouraged to consider who created it, why it was made and whose perspective may have been missing.
The event is free but limited to just 15 places, providing a rare opportunity for a close look at Glasgow Museums’ collections.
More Glasgow Listings MORE
Harold Offeh – The Mothership Collective 2:0
Artist Harold Offeh transforms Tramway’s front gallery into a playful science-fiction environment exploring Afrofuturism, identity and the possibility…
Anti-Racist Community Library – Black History Month
Woodlands Community marks Black History Month with a special edition of its Anti-Racist Community Library, bringing together books,…
Black History Month: African Women, Myth and Material Memory
African women, spirituality, folklore and cultural memory are explored through objects in Glasgow Museums’ collections during this specialist…
AfroCaledonia Exhibition – Launch Event
AfroCaledonia opens in Glasgow with an evening celebrating Black history and culture through the work of Black-Scottish creatives….
AfroCaledonia Exhibition – Meet the Artists
The artists behind AfroCaledonia take centre stage for an interactive morning exploring Black identity, intersectionality and creative expression…
Black History Month: Colonialism in Print
Glasgow Museums explores how colonial histories, race and trade have been represented through printmaking in this specialist Black…
LowDown Brass Band
Chicago’s LowDown Brass Band brings a powerful mixture of brass, hip-hop, reggae and soul to Glasgow’s Poetry Club…
An Evening with President Barack Obama
Former United States President Barack Obama comes to Glasgow for a rare live conversation at the OVO Hydro….