Bodies of Colour: Breaking with stereotypes in the wallpaper collection

This exhibition uses the Whitworth’s extensive and significant wallpaper collection to focus on how imperial attitudes to people are reflected in wallpaper.

This is a past exhibition which ran from 4 May 2018 to 28 April 2019.

The wallpapers in this exhibition were designed in Western Europe (and a few in America) but inspiration for the patterns comes from across the globe. The popularity of wallpaper grew through the 18th to 20th centuries, at the same time as the rapid expansion of the British Empire; the collection spans these three centuries. The exhibition contains a mix of commercially available wallpapers as well as wallpapers made by artists.

This exhibition deals with some difficult questions.

Racism is a system of oppression originating from the belief in the superiority of white people over others; it has affected many of us in different ways. The words and images that are used to describe our cultural identities are often contentious. Many unique and complex histories are touched upon in this exhibition. Our aim is to bring together different positions and experiences within an atmosphere of respect, learning and understanding.

The Exhibition Guide offers a brief introduction to some of the themes raised by the wallpapers on display. It is a starting point for stories, links and images that will grow through the year of the exhibition.

The team at the Whitworth have been discussing how we challenge racist representations within our collection. We all believe in this but don’t all agree about how it should be done. Bodies of Colour opens this up and invites you to contribute to an evolving conversation.

Read the Exhibition Guide

Poet and playwright Rommi Smith performed a response to this exhibition with musician Dave Evans, as part of a commission between the Whitworth and Manchester Literature Festival. 
You can watch this performance here and read the script here. 

Image: Zineb Sedira, Une Génération de femmes, 1997. Screen-printed wallpaper.
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester.