Inspire. Support. Create.
Jill Sutherland
Curatorial Fellowship
The Holburne Museum
2019
In 2019, Jill Sutherland was awarded the fellowship at the Holburne Museum. The Curatorial Fellowship was Jill's first opportunity to work within a public arts institution in a Curatorial position. During her post, she concentrated on two objectives: to review the interpretation methods at the museum and to implement a physical change in one of the displays.
“I wanted to not only help the museum work towards something, but I also wanted to test my museum evaluation skills in practice and produce a pilot piece of research with a view to being able to offer this kind of help to other museums in my future career.”
The Plantation Day Book, a little-known ledger in the collection, became the focus of her work. Ledgers like this were used in British colonies to document imports and exports for accounting purposes. This included enslaved people who were born in their possession, bought and sold, and who died on the plantation. The Plantation Day Book is missing the majority of its pages - only one page with legible content remains, itemising a delivery of candles, beef and cocoa.
At present, the book is on display in a drawer in the Museum's Fletcher Gallery. This section of the Museum is dedicated to taste and elegance in Georgian Bath and is of stark contrast to the transactional treatment of people of colour during this period. Labelled 'Sugar and Slavery', the drawer contains only a brief summary of the production of sugar by enslaved Africans for European consumption. It is currently displayed with minimal significance to the overall narrative of the gallery, and shown less care and attention than its neighbouring objects.
Jill's research reviews what kind of stories, histories and representations we present in our museums in Britain and in the Holburne. Her process was heavily collaborative, working alongside The Barbados Museum, Barbadian-Glaswegian artist, Alberta Whittle, and students of colour - transforming it into a display that will be conducive of dialogue between people.
“Connections were made and collaboration became a driving force behind the display. I have been waiting to land that curator role in the context of connection and after this, I feel I now am that curator.“
The new display has three main themes: Remembrance, rehousing the Plantation Day Book in its own case alongside a poetic epitaph by Alberta Whittle with contributions from Barbados Museum; Acceptance, presenting research that shows that the Holburne family was connected to the slave trade; and Resistance, displaying examples of black and white individuals with links to Bath and Somerset who were activists or demonstrated black agency in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
"Following my fellowship, I feel excited about the future, I'm looking forward to either perusing a freelance route where I help other museums to develop their permanent displays, or becoming an independent curator programmer. I hope for many more collaborations and conversations to come and I feel as though I am in a very different position to where I was when I started this fellowship."
Inspire. Support. Create.
Jill Sutherland
Curatorial Fellowship
The Holburne Museum
2019
In 2019, Jill Sutherland was awarded the fellowship at the Holburne Museum. The Curatorial Fellowship was Jill's first opportunity to work within a public arts institution in a Curatorial position. During her post, she concentrated on two objectives: to review the interpretation methods at the museum and to implement a physical change in one of the displays.
“I wanted to not only help the museum work towards something, but I also wanted to test my museum evaluation skills in practice and produce a pilot piece of research with a view to being able to offer this kind of help to other museums in my future career.”
The Plantation Day Book, a little-known ledger in the collection, became the focus of her work. Ledgers like this were used in British colonies to document imports and exports for accounting purposes. This included enslaved people who were born in their possession, bought and sold, and who died on the plantation. The Plantation Day Book is missing the majority of its pages - only one page with legible content remains, itemising a delivery of candles, beef and cocoa.
At present, the book is on display in a drawer in the Museum's Fletcher Gallery. This section of the Museum is dedicated to taste and elegance in Georgian Bath and is of stark contrast to the transactional treatment of people of colour during this period. Labelled 'Sugar and Slavery', the drawer contains only a brief summary of the production of sugar by enslaved Africans for European consumption. It is currently displayed with minimal significance to the overall narrative of the gallery, and shown less care and attention than its neighbouring objects.
Jill's research reviews what kind of stories, histories and representations we present in our museums in Britain and in the Holburne. Her process was heavily collaborative, working alongside The Barbados Museum, Barbadian-Glaswegian artist, Alberta Whittle, and students of colour - transforming it into a display that will be conducive of dialogue between people.
“Connections were made and collaboration became a driving force behind the display. I have been waiting to land that curator role in the context of connection and after this, I feel I now am that curator.“
The new display has three main themes: Remembrance, rehousing the Plantation Day Book in its own case alongside a poetic epitaph by Alberta Whittle with contributions from Barbados Museum; Acceptance, presenting research that shows that the Holburne family was connected to the slave trade; and Resistance, displaying examples of black and white individuals with links to Bath and Somerset who were activists or demonstrated black agency in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.