New role for Lord Nelson at Barbados Museum

WHEN the statue of Lord Nelson is removed from National Heroes Square in Bridgetown later this month, those at the helm of the Barbados Museum where it will be housed, will be seeking to give it a new role and fresh purpose by allowing Barbadians to have a say in how it is displayed and reinterpreted.

The more than two hundred-year-old structure is to be removed on November 16, 2020 – the International Day of Tolerance, as designated by the United Nations. It will then be transported to the Barbados Museum and Historical Society at the Garrison, St. Michael. The decision to move the statue was influenced in more recent times by wide consultation undertaken by the Ministry of Culture, as well as the extensive support at home and throughout the Diaspora of the #Nelsonmustgo Campaign.

Deputy Director of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Kevin Farmer, spoke recently about how the statue will be incorporated into the museum.

“The role of a museum and in this instance the Barbados Museum is to place this statue into context, to discuss the history, to discuss the social justice issues around why it has been removed from a public space and to place it into context, so that those generations present and in the future understand not only the reasons why it has been removed, but understand the power almost implicit in public statuary and why it is so crucial in understanding how a society grows and how we seek to create national identity through public art, through public statuary,” Farmer commented.

“The role of a museum is not simply to be the collector of old things, but the role of the museum is about the interpretation of those old things for its population and it is a space in which all of the multiple stories of a country can and should be told and that is what we are doing in this instance,” he explained.

“Once the statue has been taken down, we will speak to its preservation needs. That’s one aspect. I think what you may

be more interested in though, is the reinterpretation (of it). It is not going to be the usual decision that this is what it is, but (there will be) consultation with the public of Barbados, because I am sure that people have many questions about the statue, and so those are the questions that will guide us as to the type of interpretation that we can do and to recognise that the interpretation can indeed be multifaceted,” he continued.

He meanwhile stressed, “It may take the form of a backdrop where artists are commissioned to juxtapose their own work against that of what the statue is, beyond just the narrative of why it has been removed. I think that is a work in progress, but I think that that type of multidisciplinary approach that allows for co-operation from the public, is one of the main ways in which we can go about its reinterpretation,” Farmer concluded. (RSM)