Artist in Residence Helen Snell's 'Punitive Neck Piece'

Punitive Neckpiece 

Helen Snell 2012

Laser cut cardboard & spray paint, 98cm x 110cm

At first glance, Punitive Neckpiece appears to be decorative costume, reminiscent perhaps of Maori neckpieces with their concentric circles of coloured beads. It can be exhibited as a stand alone piece or as wearable sculpture.

The spurs radiating from the centre suggest ivory tusks, serrated blades or dug out canoes.

On closer inspection the imagery reveals themes of, “massacre, burning, looting and persecution of native peoples, with boats piled up with pots and stolen goods. Hands clutch keys, grain and necklaces of trade beads that are in fact, human heads; cadavers hang limply from the end of spurs”.

Punitive Neckpiece was created as part of an on-going collaboration with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth. After scouring the vast collection stores, a specific object resonated with Helen – the Benin Tusk, which remains, to this day, shrouded in controversy.

In 1897 the Royal Naval Brigade mounted an expedition to Benin City, a strategic retaliation to avenge the killing of a British Officer who had consciously violated their customs. As a result, Benin was sacked and purged of its cultural identity. Highly prized ivory carvings, rich in spiritual significance, were captured and hoarded by the British Naval Forces. Those that weren’t destroyed were shipped to Britain in their thousands, to later be sold by Queen Victoria's government - an event that marked the establishment of the British colony, Nigeria.

Historic events like the Benin expedition rouse conflicting opinions on an international scale. Therefore, notions of British Empire and colonisation, particularly in a museum context, must receive ample attention. Punitive Neckpiece stages the meeting of numerous perspectives. Helen comments on the irony in Victorian society seeing itself as:

“…decent and philanthropic, as exemplified by their hero David Livingston, yet the voracious empire builders greedily raced to carve up Africa [in light of this] this neckpiece is also a yoke, a head restraint…”

The artwork is made of narrative snapshots where, “…the red at the outer and inner extremities of the neck piece suggest areas of conflict, flash points, disputed boundaries, blood loss and pain. The inner edge of the neck piece is serrated in sharp points, like a blast hole from a shell.”

Furthermore, Helen locks symbolism into the artwork through a calculated colour scheme, “the red, white and blue can be seen as emblematic of blood, sea, peace, the Royal Navy and a target area”. The artwork, with the vigorous rotations of its 19 laser-cut limbs, is charged with dense and frantic imagery.

When worn as a costume piece, Punitive Neckpiece bites the protruding head of its model. The spurs hang precariously from a rigid brace; an artwork that responds to gravity.

In its original context the Benin tusk was the totemic epitome of spirituality, revered as transcendental, it was the African’s mode of cultural preservation; a window to their sacred past. These icons, with their ceremonial images, linked the Oba (Emperor) to his ancestors and Benin to its future. On seeing the photographs of the tusks in situ Helen said, “The configuration is rather like an altar, very powerful and quite intimidating”. Now, in British hands, in a museum context, this irreplaceable object is an “exotic” cultural trophy, set to engage and intrigue visitors.

The seizure of Naval trophies such as the Benin tusk was not uncommon. In fact, to this day, splinters of British colonisation fill museums and galleries, leaving them inundated with similarly displaced cultural remnants. The ethical grounding for possessing such objects faces endless scrutiny and remains the source of extreme controversy in public and private collections. In the same way that the tusk stood as an emblem in Benin, Punitive Neckpiece now stands as an emblem in itself, inviting viewers to encounter, explore and lament the feats of British history.

Punitive Neckpiece also acts a stark and timely reminder of the bleak consequences of territorial ambitions; the same political motivations that shake the world today. Helen’s Punitive Neckpiece can promote new perspectives on the art of collecting, whilst encouraging the re-evaluation our Colonial past, finding new ways to make heritage relevant to visitors.                    

A "Spooky" Night at the Museum

Last Friday night, a group of brave volunteers, made up of Museum staff and Paranormal Investigations team Dark Encounters, chose to spend a night in the museum. Did the exhibitions come to life, just like in the film?

Well, we didn’t see Nelson walking around in all his glory, but there were certainly a few unexplained goings on….

We split into four teams and went off to four different areas of the museum. Two teams went up into the attic, where some of the artefacts that are not currently on display are stored. Another team went into our Princess Royal Gallery, which is used for meetings and functions, and the fourth team went into one of the public galleries, the Sailing Navy Gallery on the ground floor. All of these rooms are within Storehouse No 11, one of the main museum buildings.

We started at  around 8:30pm, a time when the Dockyard is relatively quiet, apart from the coming and going of the odd ferry and the striking of the clock on the top of Storehouse No 10.

In the attic, we stood in a circle and asked if there was any spirit present. Some of the volunteers felt sensations of cold and movement and saw lights flickering in certain areas. One group thought they sensed a German man, that they felt might have been linked to an artefact in the room.

Dowsing rods were used, which are supposed to channel the spirits through the subconscious of the person holding the rods. Questions are asked by the person holding the rods, and yes and no answers are given through the movement of the rods either coming together for yes or moving apart for no. We asked questions such as “Is there a male spirit here?” and “Did you work here?” – names were discovered by a process of elimination, going through the alphabet until we got  a yes for a certain letter and then suggesting names.

One of the other techniques that was used in the attic rooms was Glass Divination. One group used an old table - one of the artefacts stored there, and using an upturned wine glass, each put their finger on the glass and asked questions, trying to make the glass move. Some of the volunteers felt as if they were swaying, as if on a boat, and when asking certain questions, the glass would move.

In the Sailing Navy gallery, the large glass display cabinets were used for scrying, where one volunteer would stand in front of the cabinet and light their face with a torch. This produced two reflections. The volunteer would close their eyes and the investigators would ask if any spirits could show themselves in the volunteer's face. There seemed to be differences between the two reflections for each volunteer, and one or two of them looked nothing like themselves in their reflections.

The Princess Royal Gallery seemed to feel quite warm and comfortable, but there were also “cold spots” and tapping noises. A few of the volunteers felt that they sensed a young child in the room, and others thought there was a man there. Other noises were heard, but they sounded as if they were coming from outside.

It’s hard to know where the noises came from – could it be the Museum’s heating system, people leaving the evening function on HMS Victory, cars driving through the Naval Base, or ships moving in the harbour? Or could it be something else?

The Museum stays relatively warm at night, aside from parts of the attic and some of the fire escape areas, so when the volunteers did feel cold it was more noticeable. Some volunteers would feel sensations in certain parts of the body and one or two felt slightly sick at times but this could be put down to anticipation or excitement at what they might discover. One volunteer felt a sudden feeling of real joy, which faded away on leaving one of the rooms.

At the end of the night, the groups all came together and shared their experiences. Some of the groups experienced similar things in the same rooms, for example the lights in one of the attic rooms and the sensing of the young child.

Of course, we can’t tell you everything that we discovered, or this post would go on forever!  It was all great fun, and a fascinating experiment to see what we could find.

It certainly gave the volunteers food for thought, and some have even been inspired to research some of the names and dates that were reached during the course of the investigation, to see if anything turns up. Certainly everyone very much enjoyed the night and would like to give a big thank you to the excellent Dark Encounters team.

We hope to run more events like these in the future that could be opened up for the public to attend, so watch this space!

Christmas Shopping at the Museum

Whether your Christmas shopping is in full swing, or even if you’re just starting out, now is a great time to visit our Museum Shop. We have a great range of gifts for all ages and budgets, and what’s more if you’re too far away or prefer to avoid the crowds, we have an online shop at http://www.rnmuseumshop.co.uk/index.html

We have a beautiful image of HMS Victory in the snow, taken during the heavy January snow falls earlier this year, available as a Christmas card in packs of 10. But if you fancy recreating the scene yourself, we do sell HMS Victory snow globes too! And why not open your own cards in style, with a letter opener with a difference – it’s a mini sword!



HMS Victory Christmas Card image



For stocking fillers, how about a chocolate medallion, or some of HMS Victory’s “Ship’s Rats” which are just like sugar mice. Lapel badges are available in a choice of 9 designs including a white ensign and an RN crown, and there are plenty of other small items to choose from throughout the shop, such as keyrings and pencils, to squeeze into that last little space in the stocking!

To toast the season, we have wine and rum available – you can even get your hands on a special Naval Toasts Tankard to drink from, engraved with well known naval toasts.

You can call the family for dinner with our Ship’s Bell (or call the crew for some assistance peeling the spuds!)

After dinner, games are a great opportunity to get the whole family playing together. The Best of British game, which you may have seen advertised on TV recently,  is a question based board game, centred around the quirky British sense of humour, and themed around modern everyday British life.

For the crafty types in the family, there are Airfix and Revell model making kits to keep them busy, and puzzles and games for the inquisitive mind.

Plus all the usual Books, DVD’s, Artwork, Figures and much more.

And after all that Christmas shopping, if you want to get organised for next year, 2011 diaries are in the shop now.

National Museum goes International

Graham Dobbin, Chief Operating Officer (RNM) and Finance Director (NMRN), is in New York this week to meet with the trustees of the American Friends of the Royal Naval Museum, and attend their annual Pickle Night Dinner. Pickle Night commemorates the arrival of HMS Pickle in Falmouth Bay in November 1805, bringing home news of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, and also of his death.

Through the wonders of modern technology, Graham will be able to keep us updated on his trip daily through this blog.

Thursday 11^th  November

I survived the first hurdle – my transatlantic flight! Amazingly, I arrived at immigration control in New York to find it totally empty and therefore walked straight up to the passport guy – last time I was here it took 3 hours!  This meant I got to my hotel within 90 minutes.

Had supper last night at a fabulous Jewish Deli called Sarge’s -  instead of the complimentary bread you get in the UK, here you have a selection of dill pickles, coleslaw and chicken liver with bread – all very delicious but it did mean I was full up before the meal – a Hot Corned Beef Sandwich.

I woke ridiculously early this morning so tried to hit my work emails but the internet connection is pretty dire in the hotel (in fact, it’s a pretty dire hotel all round – last night no lifts were working and I’m on the 19^th floor!!!) so I have had to walk to one of their sister hotels.

My hectic round of meetings starts today - breakfast with the Trustees, lunch with a potential supporter, and in the evening I’m hoping to get a bit of free time to go to watch the TV show 30 Rock being recorded.



Friday 12^th November

Three meetings and three meals later……….

I love New York - the weather here is very mild and sunny at the moment. Yesterday was Veterans Day so there was a big parade and lots of servicemen in the city.

I started my day meeting with the Trustees in a typical diner, ended the day in a “pub” which dates back to 1885 where the “great and the good” used to gather to smoke clay pipes. They have many on display, including those used by Babe Ruth and Roosevelt.

Two more meetings today, culminating in the Black Tie Pickle Night Dinner in the New York yacht Club this evening. Somewhere in between all this I need to find some time to make some final tweaks to my speech!

Saturday 13th November

 

Last Night’s Pickle Night Dinner was a stunning occasion – some 114 people gathered in the truly special surroundings of the New York Yacht Club.

The guest speaker, Admiral Sir Alan Massey, was inspiring and I know he had the audience totally enthralled – in some respects I was his warm up act (with 5 minutes to talk about the Museum and its aspirations) but I wouldn’t dare to pretend that I am anywhere close to his style of after dinner speaking!

In my opinion, you can always judge an evening by the volume of the guests talking – it was VERY loud last night!

Prior to this lunch was had at the Yale Club – they serve Yorkshire Puddings with butter instead of bread rolls!

It was a late night last night which ended with a couple of attendees at the Vanderbilt Bar in Grand Central Station – talk about sublime to the ridiculous.

Today there’s a Trustees meeting of the American Society of Friends of the Museum and then dinner tonight at a Turkish Restaurant – a cuisine I have never experienced before.

After all of this it’s on to Florida for a short holiday - it will be salads all the way when I get there!!!

Family Friendly Museum Award 2011

The Guardian has launched its Family Friendly Museum Award 2011, and with your help, we could be in with a chance of winning.

The award celebrates the Museum that receives the most nominations from its visitors, who say why they think their favourite Museum should win.

So, we need your help! What is it about our Museum that makes it so family friendly?

Is it the excitement of the Trafalgar Experience, or the interactive displays in the galleries? Perhaps it’s our excellent Family Area, the perfect place for smaller children to be entertained.

Maybe you visited one of our workshops and created a creepy sea creature mask, or kitted yourself out with an arctic explorer’s kit. Or did you go back in history and learn something new in our Time Traveller’s Club?

You might have met one of our staff whose help made your visit more enjoyable. Whatever it is, if you think we deserve to win it’s easy to nominate and anyone can do it.

Nominate by email at award@kidsinmuseums.org.uk

Or write to Kids in Museums, Downstream Building, One London Bridge, London, SE1 9BG.

You could even send them a video clip, a poem or a scrapbook – anything you like!

If you nominate, you can order a free Quentin Blake illustrated Award poster by emailing poster@kidsinmuseums.org.uk

Nominations close on 3rd December 2010

Thank you