Alex Hancock explores how research about museum collections is helping to connect British museums with more of the publics they claim to support. His emphasis is on decolonisation, engagement, and white European power. Ultimately, how do structural inequalities manifest in our museums, and how do we move to a new set of relationships?

Alex undertook this project for the STSNewsRoom in summer 2021. His reporting focused on two specific events.

First, Alex discusses with Tannis Davidson the “Displays of Power” exhibition at UCL Grant Museum of Zoology, which explores legacy of empire through objects in the museum and other natural history collections. Objects in these collections have complex histories of  ...