Decolonizing the Museum: A Workshop

How can the arts and humanities address their legacy of colonialism and center equity and representation? 

Since their creation in the 19th century, museums have always been spaces of knowledge and encounter. The dialogue occurs between objects and the public, but also between the objects themselves and between the objects and those who study, preserve, and interpret them, following the new knowledge and approaches to history of each era. Thus, the museum is a living place, open to debate, constantly evolving, and for this reason, it has the duty to continuously reflect on its communication methods, terminology, and on its conservation and exhibition practices.

Conducted by Francesca Baldry, Villa La Pietra Collection Manager, and Lara Abu Dahab, University of St Andrews, NYU Florence, and NYU Abu Dhabi alumna.

The Decolonizing the Museum workshop took place February 12th, 2025, and invited students and staff on campus at NYU Florence to participate in discussions revolving around the Actons’ collection of “Blackamoor” statues. The workshop interrogated the Actons’ affinity for these objects and curatorial choices regarding them and objects like them in the Acton collection, and through these objects discussed how museums broadly should engage with art objects that have complex histories.

Guest Speaker Lara Abu Dahab contributed to the discussion with a talk on Revisiting Ornamentation and Ornamental Blackness in the Acton Collection.

SYNOPSIS OF THE WORKSHOP

Collection Manager and Francesca Baldry and Lara Abu Dahab, NYU Florence alumna and art historian focused on Middle Eastern and North African art and decolonial initiatives, began the workshop by providing historical context on the term “Blackamoor,” its current acceptability and usage in art-historical scholarship, and alternative terms such as “figures of ornamental Blackness.” They also discussed the Actons’ collection and past projects undertaken by NYU and Villa La Pietra to engage with these histories with open perspectives.

The term “Blackamoor” refers to an artistic motif of figures depicting an amalgamation of ideations of African, Middle Eastern, and Asian peoples that emerged during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. “Blackamoor” figures were then “a means by which Europeans could celebrate, domesticate, and naturalize racial domination”.

Baldry and Abu Dahab also explored the legacy of the Acton family—Hortense Mitchell Acton, her husband Arthur Acton, and their sons, William and Harold—who lived at Villa La Pietra since 1903. Over the years, the Actons gathered an extensive collection of over 7,000 works, ranging from Chinese porcelain to Flemish tapestries, before Harold Acton bequeathed the collections to NYU in 1994.

The Actons’ approach to collecting in the early 20th century reflected 19th century historical visions of ‘Orientalist’ fantasies and the European colonial imagination of the period. In response to contemporary critical conversations on these legacies, in 2015, Villa La Pietra organized the ReSignifications project, curated by Awam Amkpa, NYUAD Arts and Humanities Division. Through moderating and subverting historical artistic conventions, the project sought to engage contemporary artists in a critical dialogue with the broad historical array of ornamental representations of Black bodies. The exhibition showcased a diverse range of works—including photography, painting, sculpture, and video—by artists from Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States. It was presented in Florence alongside the conference Black Portraitures II: Imagining the Black Body, Restaging Histories.

Abu Dahab’s MLitt research at the University of St Andrews (Scotland), Revisiting Ornamentation: A Critical Analysis of the ReSignifications Project and the Role of Contemporary Art in Decolonizing Ornamental Blackness in European Museums, expanded on the impact of ReSignifications. Her work critically examined the project, analyzing the role of contemporary art interventions in the decolonization of museums and proposing ways forward. In the workshop, she encouraged students to reflect on how museums can move beyond traditional narratives and emphasized decolonization as an ongoing process rather than a singular event. Her research continues to inform and inspire Villa La Pietra’s commitment to confronting the historical connotations embedded in the Actons’ collection and to ensuring these objects are represented with the necessary critical engagement and respect. 

The workshop was attended also by scholars and students from The Recovery Plan who contributed with their insights regarding emotions, which emerged  from the encounter of the “Blackamoor” sculptures.

Overall, the event served as an important step in engaging in an ongoing and critical conversation about the legacies of colonialism, decolonization, and the future of museum ethics and practice. 

THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION CAN BE VIEWED HERE