Charlotte Connelly
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curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Charlotte Connelly
@curatorconnelly.bsky.social
3.1K followers 900 following 330 posts
Head Curator at the National Science and Media Museum. Historian of science and technology. Nerdy about media tech, the history of electricity, the polar regions and the history of exploration #histsci #histtech #museums 📜
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curatorconnelly.bsky.social
All your photos are making me nostalgic - we had an excellent (though sweltering) family visit last year. The lava bombs were our fave
A small boy next to several large lava bombs on display stands.
November 4, 2025 at 9:14 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
There was also a really thoughtful display about Wedgwood's abolitionist campaigning that manages a nuanced discussion of his position supplying goods to a wealthy elite made wealthy via slavery. A compelling display and art made with local students explores his famous anti-slavery medallion
Ceramics Magdalene Odundo's artwork "The Falcon Cannot Hear The Falconer", made during a residency at Wedgwood. The jasperware centerpiece incorporates Wedgwood's anti-slavery medallion design and correspondence between Wedgwood and Olaudah Eauiano Display case about Josiah Wedgwood and abolition. A student at Stoke-On-Trent Sixth Form College is quoted saying "I think that at the time, the anti-slavery medallion informed white people and almost had a shock value that wanted to make them advocate for change. However, in the modern day I feel this imagery can be upsetting and our modern designs want to empower people." Be rather the quote a striking artwork states "I am a man and a brother". Ot shows a black hand raised in power, surrounded by and rising above pottery. The artwork was designed by a student at the college. A rubbish photo of the object I found most compelling in the museum. It's a mug, and the caption says is shows enslaved people working on a sugar plantation. Some abolitionist boycotted sugar to apply economic pressure to end the trade in enslaved people. The design on this mug encouraged the user to consider the origin of the sugar in their tea and it's human cost.
August 17, 2025 at 7:15 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
The museum is far more expansive than I'd expected. I really enjoyed learning about members of the Lunar Society, including Josiah Wedgwood, when I was a student, so it was a pleasure to see some of his work up close. The display emphasised links to industry, empire, canals, nat. philosophy...
A tray of experimental jasperware samples. Wedgwood was a prolific experimented, and became a member of the Royal Society in recognition of his contributions to natural philosophy
August 17, 2025 at 7:15 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I stopped in at the V&A Wedgwood Collection nrar Stoke today. I enjoyed their little display about the project to catalogue the collection, I imagine updating the 'number of objects available online'counter is a very satisfying job 📜
Intro panel about 'Unpacking the V&A Wedgwood Collection'. An update able display tells us that 21,073 objects are available online A recently catalogue object. A pink rotary telephone in pink jasperware with white reliefs, 1986 Three recently catalogue objects including a 'springing tool, "waggler"'. Every museum should have one. A photo of a short film that explains that each object is documented by recoding information including age, artist, manufacturer, physical description, dimensions and condition.
August 17, 2025 at 7:15 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I was there last week, and they attributed 'engineery' to Smeaton himself
Museum label reading: Are you engineery? If you draw, design things or work with tools, then yes, you probably are. Leeds civil engineer John Smeaton didn't just invent things. In the 1700s he also invented a word that described his job. That word was 'Engineery'. Explore the world and you'll find that engineering is everywhere.
August 17, 2025 at 5:50 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Fairies and vampires and aliens, oh my!

Great photos from the new Sound and Vision galleries at @mediamuseum.bsky.social. We've got a brilliant family day lined up for tomorrow *and* temperature controlled galleries 😎

www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/whats-on/sou...
A family looking at a display about the Cottingley fairies. There's one of the cameras they used and you can pose with the fairies yourself A family exploring a display about horror movies. There's a big pool of fake blood on the floor and a xenomorph from Alien in the background Two people stand inside a huge digital artwork, looking at giant screens
July 11, 2025 at 8:42 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Thanks for paging me @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social

I'm pleased to say we don't have a dodgy dalek - it's a trick of the light. Here's a photo from another angle, and you might also like to see a model we made so that visitors can get hands on
A dalek in a showcase poised to exterminate A small model of a dalek. A label nearby reads 'please touch'
July 10, 2025 at 2:38 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Happy #CleanAirDay from me and my daily cycle commute. I spotted the sign on the one small bit of road I have to navigate on my otherwise pleasantly green 5 mile journey

Lots of people out on bikes this morning - the weather helps!
A road with greenery in thread background and a middle distance road sign reads 'clean air day, 19 June, can you leave your car at home?' Bradford's new city centre Norfolk gardens looking beaytiful
June 19, 2025 at 8:04 AM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I've stopped by the Bradford Progress at its stop in Robert's Park, about 9 hours into a 36 hour musical journey across Bradford District.

Sunshine, South Asian sounds, ice cream, cricketers in the background... beautiful

@bradford2025.co.uk
South Asian musicians play in a traditional Victorian bandstand. The sky is blue, it's bright and sunny, purple are sitting on the grass or standing and dancing. In the background there's a cricket pitch. From the event blurb: The Bradford Progress draws into the bandstand in Roberts Park for an afternoon of South Asian sounds from Qaiser Khan, Shah-e-Marden Group, Song-Geet and a line-up of classical Indian music and dance brought together by Bradford multi-instrumentalist Vijay Venkat - Kamalbir Singh, Devaki O'Riordan, Srividya Venkat and Anna Purna Dance. --- Paraorchestra with Charles Hazlewood, Jeremy Deller & the people of Bradford. Co-produced by Paraorchestra and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
May 17, 2025 at 1:47 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I went for a lunchtime outing with colleagues to do a bit of drawing. It was a mental health awareness week initiative, but also a great opportunity to link in with @bradford2025.co.uk's DRAW! programme, and also to enjoy Saad Qureshi's new Tower of Now artwork 😍
In the background a tall grey sculpture stands proud against buildings and a cloudy sky. The grey artwork brings together architectural details from buildings around the world, stacking and overlaying them into a sculpture that is 15m high. In the foreground is a partial pencil sketch of the artwork.
May 15, 2025 at 3:23 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
It's currently the stamping ground for my small person, who needs absolutely no encouragement to get up to his elbows in whatever mess there is to be found!
A small boy on top of Baildon Moor. He has a liberal covering of mud on his legs and hands.
May 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I got to have a look around the @leedsmuseums.bsky.social Discovery Centre yesterday. Here's their #platypus for your enjoyment. Also an emperor penguin, because I never really left the Polar Museum behind...
A well stuffed taxidermy platypus. A taxidermy emperor penguin in a museum store crowded with objects.
May 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I just finished this by @siobhanangus.bsky.social, please all read it so we can talk about it. It's insightful and thought provoking and hits many of my interests (material-led histories of media, science, exploration and extraction). Now mentally curating the exhibition of the book...
Book cover: Camera Geologica: an elemental history of photography, Siobhan Angus
April 17, 2025 at 8:44 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Making the most of the sunny weather to take a bike ride to Leeds

Thinking about the industrial heritage of the Aire Valley as I ride on a lovely flat canal tow path, next to the railway, alongside marching pylons and past mills, farmland and the site of Kirkstall forge

Lovely stuff!
My bike, propped up on a bridge over the river Aire Horses in the foreground and a railway viaduct over the river valley in the midground Railway line on the left, canal path in front, canal to the right, a pylon on the far right and power and telecommunications cables stretch through the air The ruins of Kirkstall Abbey blend into thr landscape
April 12, 2025 at 11:09 AM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
The third print is called "Grandparents". In her recent interviews Kabloona talked about how her grandma walked 100s of km every year, often while pregnant. Here we see her grandparents dressed for a walk to the shop - Grandma on the left with her tattoos, and Grandad on the right. [4/5]
A bold orange print of twi faces, each encircled by a stylised fur hood. The face on the left is marked with traditional Inuit women's tattoos.
April 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
This piece, "Aggat" really shows off the traditional Inuit tunniit, or tattooing practice. Traditionally done by woman for women, the practice was forcibly suppressed by colonisers and is being reclaimed.

Watch Alethea Arnaquq Baril's film for more youtu.be/1P3PsdFi4Hg?...

[3/5]
A print of the back of an open hand. There are Inuit tattoo markings on it.
April 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
First up, a print of a powerful clenched fist, titled "Resilience". It is bright orange, the colour of orange shirt day, or the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - a memorial day to recognize the atrocities and multi-generational effects of the Canadian Indian residential school system [2/5]
A print of a bold clenched fist with wrist out. Markings depict Inuit tattoos. The print is bright orange
April 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
#ObjectOfTheWeek

Inuit artist Gayle Kabloona has been in the news for calling out UK traveller's claim to be the first woman to cross Nunavut Island on foot (more here www.bbc.com/news/article...)

Rather than focus on the news, I'd like to share some of her art

@inuitartportal.bsky.social
[1/5]
Three prints. Top left is a clenched fist with wrist out. Some Inuit tattoo markings can be seen on the hand. The print is in a bright orange colour. Right, a hand with Inuit tattoo markings in black. Bottom left, faces look out from stylised fur hoods. The face on the left is marked with Inuit women's tattoo markings.
April 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Then finally I Am Me, an exhibition of works from the Government Art Collection, selected by young people from Bradford and presented with their commentary. Both exhibitions were really thoughtful and thought provoking. Well worth a visit! @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social #bradford2025 (3/3)
A bronze sculpture of a man at the entrance to the exhibition. The label tells us "traditionally public statues are made of 'important' public figures in society. This artist [Thomas J Price], however chooses to show ordinary people. By doing so he asks us to consider who and why we choose to show the people we do... Black men have often been excluded from western portrait art. For the artist, who is a Black man himself, it is important to redress this balance and invite us to question the ways n which Black people are represented in art and culture today." A portrait of a boy with a parrot, 18th century. Artist and sitter both unknown. Text on the wall reads "It reminds me of the Mona Lisa - they have a similar face. It doesn't look like our concept of childhood now. He isn't wearing kid's clothes. If anything parrot was a status symbol then - I think you'd be painted with an iPhone today."
March 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Fighting To Be Heard explores connections between the disciplines of calligraphy and boxing, with their precision and dedication, through the eyes of a group of British South Asian men in Bradford. Features astonishing calligraphy texts from the @britishlibrary.bsky.social and a brilliant film (2/3)
A stunning piece of calligraphy by Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang. It is almost a single brush stroke. A pen and case brought to life with a piece of animation. The work is called The Pen and The Sword, by Soraya Syed. A ninth century CE Qur'an from thr British Library's collection, with gold leaf motifs throughout.
March 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I enjoyed a visit to Cartwright Hall today. I was greeded by Osman Yousefzada's piece, which temporarily covers the Diana statue. "For Yousefzada, the act of wrapping her is a refusal of patriarchy, where Diana refuses to become the adornment of the edifices built by the great men of the city" (1/3)
In the gardens in front of Cartwright Hall art gallery, a large sculpture of a blue cloth parcel, tied with a bow sits in the middle of a flowerbed. Possession I, Osman Yousefzada (2024) This artwork temporarily covers the statue The Stag and Diana crafted in bronze by Pierre Louis Rouillard, a replica of a marble statue of Diana of Versailles at the Louvre Museum in Paris. For Yousefzada, the act of wrapping her is a refusal of patriarchy, where Diana refuses to become the adornment of the edifices built by the great men of the city.
March 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pictures, where are you mentally?

Also counts as my @bradford2025.co.uk DRAW! contribution for March. Spring flowers are one of my favorite things. More here: bradford2025.co.uk/programme/dr...
A quick pen sketch of a daffodil
March 22, 2025 at 9:20 PM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Ahh, the traditional farmers market, complete with stall holder finding higher ground to seek out elusive signal for their payment machine. A classic scene.
A stall holder on a wall, holding their payment machine high above their head
March 22, 2025 at 11:09 AM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
Pleased to say it was warmer this morning, but traffic was terrible...
Two horseriders ahead on the path
March 20, 2025 at 9:42 AM
curatorconnelly.bsky.social
I hope this morning's commute was the last frosty one of the year 🥶

On the other hand it was lovely and sunny
A canal tow path lined with frost tipped grass
March 19, 2025 at 7:22 PM