We want to acknowledge that, in March 2025, a protest was organized by Gaza Biennale-Jinnaah UK at the Horniman against the handling of a 2023 pilot artist residency and one of our funders.
The Horniman’s leadership, Trustees and staff have been reflecting on how we can proactively centre SWANA communities’ voices, not only in relation to collections, but in how their cultures and communities are represented across the Horniman’s work.
We are in dialogue with community members and stakeholders, whose insights and critical feedback are helping us identify how we can create change that is rooted in our communities. We want to respond to the concerns raised by our partners, and to better support people to engage with and represent their heritage on their own terms.
Whilst collections that are not on display are accessible on our website and by pre-arranged visit to our Study Collections Centre, we acknowledge that access alone is not enough. What matters is enabling communities to decide how, or if, their heritage is represented, and to ensure that their lived experiences shape programming, interpretation, and decision-making at the Horniman. We also recognise the right of communities to refuse to engage with us and we will always honour this.
We are committed to transparency with partners and contributors. This includes where our funding comes from, that the Horniman has received criticism, and sharing how we have been embedding expertise in community-led, participatory practices to support those working with us.
We want to understand where we have fallen short, to repair relationships, and to ensure that our work is accountable to Indigenous, source, and descent communities. We are actively encouraging free responses to our collections and are committed to centering lived experiences, restoring agency to communities, and acknowledging the harms of past misrepresentation.
Some responses to collections from the SWANA region, including Palestine, are currently part of our programming. This has come about through open dialogue with contributors, both those new to us and those who have been working with us since 2019 on our displays and programming. Some of the conversations are necessarily not public and we respect the right of partners and community members to speak to us in confidence, at their pace, and to communicate on their terms.
There is long-term work to do. We will continue to listen, reflect and evolve our approach.
The Horniman Museum & Gardens Senior Management Team