Exhibiting Difference Project
Huntarian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons
In 2007 the Hunterian Museum made a unique contribution to the commemoration of the 2007 Bicentenary of the Parliamentary Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire through the Exhibiting Difference project. This was an opportunity to broaden current awareness of the history of the Transatlantic slave trade through the history of medicine and the experiences of those who were living on the margins of society. Exhibiting Difference focused on the hidden histories of Black Africans living with skin pigmentation conditions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The project encouraged participants and visitors to explore issues of identity, self-image and cultural distinctiveness in modern society and examine their own attitudes and behaviour towards people with a visible difference both from the past and the present day. Jacky worked with two schools Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls and Friern Barnet School, leading two very different workshops. The pupils from Ellen Wilkinson worked with a variety of materials creating body sculptures, considering genetics, race and identity. The pupils at Frienrn Barnet each drew a portrait and then drew patterns from diferent animal prints. The class then selected on image and this was transferred onto multiple canvases that colelctively built up te whole image. Through collaboration and team work the individual canvases were redeveloped and refined to make one unified final outcome. For this project the collective working was as important as the final piece itself.
A quote from one of the teachers
"The students at The Ellen Wilkinson School for Girlswere fascinated by the exhibits on display at theHunterian Museum and provided them with somewonderful inspiration for the 'Exhibiting theDifference' project. Our artist in residence,Jacky Oliver, really inspired the girls with her workand pupils went on to develop a body adornmentpiece based on a series of specimens found in thecollection. The girls particularly enjoyed workingwith the 3D materials and were overjoyed to seetheir work on displaying in a public place, manyreturning to show relatives and friends.The whole experience deepened the studentsunderstanding of the work of the professional artists.The journey that the students undertook from theinitial inspiration of seeing other artists work ondisplay to having their own work exhibited wasan enormously enriching one.