Edward Colston statue pulled down

[Tessa K]

Thanks for that very cheering update

[kerrya1]

Seeing the outcomes of this Bristol research is giving me some hope that the Edinburgh one will turn out well. https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/edinburghs ... olonialism

[Fishnut]

More than 18 months after the commission published its findings, it has been confirmed that the Colston statue will remain in the M Shed museum as part of an permanent exhibit in the People gallery.

The council somewhat bizarrely has to apply for planning permission to do this,

The statue, which was pulled down and pushed into the Floating Harbour back in June 2020, is a listed monument, so formal planning consent is required to ‘regularise’ the fact that it’s no longer on its plinth and won’t be returned there.
...
The new exhibition will open in March 2024. In the meantime, an application for listed building consent will go to councillors in the New Year. “To help make this a reality, an application to regularise the legal position of the listed asset, away from its plinth, has recently been submitted which will go to a planning committee early in the new year,” explained Mr Rees. “It was submitted following discussions with Historic England, the government advisory body responsible for designating listed buildings, as part of the pre-application process.”

I will visit at some point after it's opened and report back.

[Fishnut]

More than 18 months after the commission published its findings, it has been confirmed that the Colston statue will remain in the M Shed museum as part of an permanent exhibit in the People gallery...

I will visit at some point after it's opened and report back.

I got the opportunity to visit last week and am reporting back as promised.

Colston is now part of the Bristol People gallery on the first floor. This is a great gallery and I highly recommend a look if you're ever in the area. It details the long and vibrant history of political protest in Bristol, starting from the 1831 Reform Act riots and going through the campaign to end slavery, women's suffrage, the Bristol Bus Boycott in the 60s, and various other protests, finishing with the 2020 protests that resulted in the toppling of Colston.

The statue itself has been hidden from obvious view, his display is shielded by a wall of placards from the protest and a notice,

Caution sign.jpg (12.53 KiB) Viewed 131 times

The statue is the other side of the placard wall and on the main room wall are some boards with a brief history of the campaign to remove the statue, the plaques that were offered as context to be placed on the base of the plinth, and a few quotes from notable people. The one from Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees (which I somehow forgot to photograph) was a really wishy washy 'I didn't like the statue but it was wrong to take it down in the way it was taken down' statement which actually did a great job of encapsulating the apparent reluctance to offend any point of view in the exhibit. It felt like objectivity taken to such an extreme that it was impossible to really understand why the statue had caused such a passionate response.

When the statue went on temporary display visitors were able to get right up close - closer than they were when he was in the city centre as the plinth is about as tall as I am - and it was a really great way to see just how, well, sh.t the statue is. It's really not a great piece of sculpture imo.

Colston temporary display.jpg (18.6 KiB) Viewed 131 times

In the permanent display it's in a box.

Colston statue.jpg (16.87 KiB) Viewed 131 times

I understand why it's in a box but I'm sad that it is. It makes it seem more special than it is. The statue is a symbol, and in that sense it is special - its commissioning was a political act (basically, the city elites were getting nervous at the hoi polloi who were agitating for votes and - shock horror - proper political representation! - and so wanted to remind people of the Good Old Days when city elites were benevolent benefactors who took care of everything so why not go back to working your sh.t jobs for sh.t pay and let us carry on running the city) and its removal was another political act after years of political inaction that meant that even a short paragraph of context to be bolted onto the plinth was too difficult to reach consensus over. But part of its removal was, in my mind, ending the power that Colston holds - and by extension the elites who to this day resent the reminder that Bristol and many of its biggest institutions were built on wealth garnered from the Slave Trade. That he is in a box - yet again untouchable - and in space so afraid of upsetting anyone that it leaves everyone unsatisfied shows that we still have a long way to go.