'A Malay native from Batavia at Coepang' by Thomas Baines, 1856. © Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
We are delighted to announce our latest online exhibition: Hidden Histories of Exploration.
Exploration has always been a fundamentally collective and shared experience. Sometimes hidden, sometimes visible, the role of local people in the history of exploration and travel deserves to be much better known. In many different parts of the world, from the Arctic to Asia, and from Africa to the Americas, European explorers relied on local knowledge and support from intermediaries such as interpreters and guides, which is often overlooked.
This online exhibition recognises and celebrates the collaboration and co-production of a selection of expeditions. Drawing on the AHRC-funded project Hidden Histories of Exploration by Professor Felix Driver and Dr Lowri Jones, which featured in a major exhibition at the Society in 2009, Hidden Histories contains numerous images of exploration since 1800 and explores the work, the documentation and the ethics of these expeditions.
Hidden Histories of Exploration has stimulated a programme of research-led work at the Society which has spanned the last 10 years and continues forward today.
Joy Slappnig’s project The indigenous map uncovers the traces of Indigenous mapping practices in the Society’s map collection, highlighting the ways in which European exploration depended on Indigenous geographical knowledge. Meanwhile, Peter Martin’s research on geographical exploration of the Arctic regions in the early 20th century, foregrounds the contributions of local and Indigenous people.
We are also delighted to announce that this theme will continue with Katharine Vann, our newest Collaborative Doctoral Award student, who will be joining us in autumn 2020. Her project aims to reconnect historical photographs documenting Indigenous peoples and practices in Guyana to contemporary initiatives concerning Indigenous knowledge and heritage development.
View Hidden Histories of Exploration.
See our other online exhibitions.
Find out more about our Collaborative Doctoral Awards.