The Whole Picture

The Colonial Story of the Art in Our Museums & Why We Need to Talk About It

By: Alice Procter

Narrated by: Alice Procter

Should museums be made to give back their marbles? Is it even possible to 'decolonize' our galleries? Must Rhodes fall?

How to deal with the colonial history of art in museums and monuments in the public realm is a thorny issue that we are only just beginning to address. Alice Procter, creator of the Uncomfortable Art Tours, provides a guide for deconstructing everything you thought you knew about art history and tells the stories that have been left out of the canon.

The audiobook is divided into four chronological sections, named after four different kinds of art space: The Palace, The Classroom, The Memorial and The Playground. Each section tackles the fascinating, enlightening and often shocking stories of a selection of art pieces, including the propaganda painting the East India Company used to justify its rule in India; the tattooed Maori skulls collected as 'art objects' by Europeans; and works by contemporary artists who are taking on colonial history in their work and activism today.

The Whole Picture is a much-needed provocation to look more critically at the accepted narratives about art, and rethink and disrupt the way we interact with the museums and galleries that display it.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Alice Procter (P)2019 Octopus Publishing Group

A little hard to follow at times

I really liked this book, but sometimes it was just a little hard for me to follow, and I had to repeat chapters.

FANTASTIC

I'm an intern at a museum and this book taught me so much about the role museums play in modern society! Absolutely amazing writing/narration.

Fantastic storytelling and insights

I was assigned this book in a Seminar in Art Theory course for my Master’s program. I really enjoyed the stories told and the contemporary global perspective taken on many issues presented. The writer did an excellent job doubling as narrator. I will most likely listen to this again.