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Well, last Monday was a strange day!  I went to the V&A Museum in London to see the Uncomfortable Truths exhibition.  This exhibition has been set up to commemorate the bi-centenary of the parliamentary abolition of the slave trade.  But as I arrived in between curator tours for that exhibition, I decided to pop in to see the Kylie Minogue exhibition showing at the same museum. 

Now I’m not a great Kylie Minogue fan but I have to say the exhibition was more interesting than I thought it would be.  For Kylie fans it’s probably the next best thing to meeting the woman in person.  There were loads of photos, CD covers, costumes and more.  Seeing her video and stage costumes and watching the videos at the same time was quite enlightening.  And, I cannot tell a lie, I was thrilled to see ‘the’ jumpsuit she wore for her video – I Just Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.  Kylie is a great show woman, and I have a new found admiration for her.  The way she’s managed to change her image over the years to always be ‘now’ rather than ‘then’ was fascinating to see.  And I have to say, Kylie Minogue is tiny, at least compared to me!  I was looking at a pair of gold hotpants worn by Kylie in one of her videos.  I reckon they would’ve fit me when I was about seven or eight years old!  After that – no chance.  And as for her jump suit, if you’re not a size 6 or under – forget it! 

When I did finally get to see the Uncomfortable Truths exhibition, that too was surprising and enlightening.  The exhibition is scattered throughout the museum rather than being confined to one room.  I can totally understand the view of the curator that she didn’t want to stick all the exhibits in one room where it could be marginalised and forgotten,  and as slavery is such an integral part of British history, she wanted to incorporate the various exhibition pieces throughout the museum to show its influence on all aspects of British culture, society and history.  But this also means that you really have to search to find them.  There is a map of the exhibit available but as I’m the world’s worst map reader with no sense of direction whatsoever, it took a while to wrap my head around it.

My two favourite exhibits were the ones by Michael Paul Britto and Keith Piper.  Michael Paul Britto’s was a video entitled ‘Dirty Harriet Tubman’ – a parody on the Dirty Harry and blaxploitation films.  This was followed by a choreographed dance of black men and women dressed as slaves and led by Harriet Tubman waving a gun to the tune of ‘Slave 4 U’ by Brittney Spears.  That was fantastic.  It made me laugh and feel very uncomfortable at the same time.  (Warning – the Dirty Harriet Tubman part of the video contains some swearing so is not really suitable for young ears.)

Keith Piper’s exhibit was contained under glass and was very telling.  It included an open book entitled ‘The Gentleman’s Guide to the Handling of Slaves’ and showed via various illustrations the ways in which a slave owner could torture the slaves he owned.  The illustrations were beautifully done and highlighted the ‘genteel’ verses the ‘brutal’.  It was very thought-provoking.  

Other works included a huge snake made out of jerry cans swallowing its tail (that was out in the V&A garden), a Victorian drawing-room where the chairs were stuffed with coffee beans (to show exactly what trade underpinned the wealth of a number of Victorians) and a fabulous installation made of driftwood, signifying men, women and children being marched up a beach to be taken away and to be lost to their homeland forever – at least, that’s the image it conjured up for me.  There are plenty of other exhibits to see including paintings, cardboard cut-out figures with their slave names and their real names written on the back and much more.  All in all, I would highly recommend the exhibition, but wear flat shoes and be prepared for some serious walking.