Views in the interior of Guyana 2021

Inspired by the Schomburgk Archive housed at the Society, Ann Gollifer presents a new exhibition displayed in the Director's Gallery.   

Ann's book Views in the interior of Guyana, begun in 2012 and completed in 2021, initiates a dialogue with the work by Robert Schomburgk, Views in the interior of Guiana published in 1841. His book recorded his first expedition to British Guiana for geographical, ethnological and botanical exploration on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society, London. Schomburgk was then sent back to British Guiana to secure provisional eastern and western boundaries, with Venezuela and Suriname. He later helped arbitrate the southern boundary with Brazil. 

Ann's project, which culminates with this exhibition in the Director’s Gallery, began with a visit to the Schomburgk Archive housed at the Society. Schomburgk’s Views, an inventory of peoples and places embedded in the colonial constructs of British Imperialism, inspired Ann to create her own version. Ann used the genre of topographical watercolour to reference the sumptuous nature of Schomburgk’s Views, translating her paintings into lithographs to make a limited edition of her own book.