This conversation between the two curators, Alexandra Green and Rosanna Nicolson, celebrates two exhibitions focusing on Southeast Asian art鈥撯淏urma to Myanmar鈥 and 鈥淭heravada Buddhism鈥濃揷oncurrently showing at The British Museum and at National Museums of Scotland respectively. It highlights issues related to the formation of Asian art collections in the UK, the curation of sacred objects in museum settings, and collaborations between museums and diasporic communities in the UK. This dialog brings attention to salient issues on decolonising museum spaces and practices, including the production and sharing of knowledge.
Dr Alexandra Green听is the Henry Ginsburg Curator for Southeast Asia in 迟丑别听Department of Asia听at the British Museum and Lead Curator of听Burma to Myanmar. She has written books and articles on Southeast Asia’s arts and material cultures, including听Buddhist Visual Cultures, Rhetoric and Narrative in Late Burmese Wall Paintings听(2018),听Burmese Silver from the Colonial Period听(2022), and听Southeast Asia: a history in objects听(2023). She edited and partially wrote听Burma to Myanmar听that was published in October 2023 to accompany the exhibition at the British Museum. Previous exhibition projects include听Raffles in Southeast Asia: Revisiting the Scholar and Statesman听at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore and听Sir Stamford Raffles: Collecting in Southeast Asia 1811鈥24听at the British Museum in 2019.
Rosanna Nicolson听is Assistant Curator (West, South and Southeast Asia) in the Department of Global Arts, Cultures and Design at National Museums Scotland. In this role she has been developing a special interest in Southeast Asia,听 and more recently has been identifying and improving documentation for Buddhist material culture.听Her exhibition听Therav膩da Buddhism,听16 Sep 2023 – 9 Jun 2024, is the result of partnerships with members of the Buddhist community in Scotland and developed collaboratively with Edinburgh Buddhist Studies,听an interdisciplinary research network at the University of Edinburgh.
Organised by Lori Wong (Senior Lecturer in Conservation) and Dr Sujatha Meegama (Senior Lecturer in Art History) as part of听The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Art and Conservation at The 天美传媒.听