Exhibition:Wales is… talking about empire

What do our collections at this museum tell us about representation in Wales? How can we foreground marginalised histories and experiences to reflect Welsh life? Whose voices or narratives are most powerful here?

Artist, Nasia Sarwar-Skuse, and arts organisation Ways of Working explore these themes in a series of interventions across the museum’s site. You can see the work in the following spaces:

St Fagans Atrium (museum entrance)

An opportunity for you to respond to a series of questions posed by Nasia and Ways of Working around the themes of colonialism, power and museums. Each month these questions change. Leave a comment, share your thoughts and reflections.

Wales is… gallery

Here, you will see a recreated living room, to evoke conversations about memories, migration, and what empire means today. Within the installation sits the sofa of Robert Clive (1725-74) known as Clive of India. The invitation is for you to consider this item within this domestic scene. Turning the gaze on the coloniser.

St Fagans Castle (entrance hall) - On display until 30 March 2025

Experience an immersive installation inspired by the tent of Tipu Sultan (1750-99), ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. The recreation is informed by his dream diary and research into his life. The original tent, today at Powis Castle, was looted from India and became powerful cultural capital to the colonisers. The Windsor-Clive family of St Fagans Castle is connected to Clive of India through the 1819 marriage of his grandson, Robert Henry Clive to Lady Harriet Windsor.

Now on display in the South Asia Gallery in Manchester Museum. 

St Fagans Castle (dining room) - On display until 30 March 2025

Absent Presence - a site-specific film by Nasia Sarwar-Skuse performed by Sanea Singh and filmed by Ruslan Pilyarov.

Now showing in the South Asia Gallery in Manchester Museum and in the Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain exhibition in Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea. 

Perspective(s)

Perspective(s) is a collaboration between the Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru, which seeks to bring about a step change in how the visual arts and heritage sector reflects the cultural and ethnic diversity of our society. The project is supported by the Welsh Government as part of a collective effort to meet the culture and heritage goals of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.