Fifteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Our paper discusses our ‘Post-War British Painting in Regional Collections research group’. This interdisciplinary community brought together academics, curators, independent researchers, artists and students to support research into regional collections at regional GLAMIs, particularly in the north-west and midlands of England. These collections are often inaccessible and under-researched, receiving less funding and recognition than collections at National GLAMIs in the capital. However, as our work has demonstrated, regional collections map the complex shift in aesthetic values since the 1950s and the many social and political shifts that marked this period, including the breakdown of colonialism, and changing attitudes to gender, sexuality and class. Accessible research into these collections is critically important for producing curating interpretation and exhibitions that represent the experiences of local people and place, and is key to engaging local audiences. Our community began with the aims of: Supporting new interpretations of regional collections that are sensitive to regional, local and socio-political particularity; Utilising our research and experience collectively to uncover concealed histories of race, gender and sexuality in a regional context- pertaining to post-war paintings, artists, collectors, and curators represented in our regional collections; Working collaboratively across the Higher Education and museums and galleries sectors, developing joint activities that allow us to share knowledge and expertise beyond our own disciplines. We discuss some of the work that we co-produced using this framework, and consider how we met these aims whilst redressing established art-historical and museological narratives that privilege centre-periphery cultural models.