The Museum of Colour is a digital museum exploring the contribution made by People of Colour to the nation's culture, specifically in film, television and the arts from 1766 to 2016.

'Respect Due' is the museum's response to COVID-19. We have had to pause work on our other upcoming exhibitions; please watch the video to find out more.

We are asking a small number of creatives of colour to nominate an elder in their field, who they wish to pay respect to publicly. We will commission a designer to create unique images of them and invite the subjects to make a virtual donation of a meaningful personal item, sharing its story with us all. Each of the significant objects will become part of the Museum of Colour's collection.

Why is this work urgent now?

We are currently just a small team of two and our pilot shows that it takes between a year and eighteen months to deliver each exhibition. We are building our exhibitions by artform, and at this rate, it will take fifteen years to cover our identified fields.

We recognise that important people may pass away in that time frame with their knowledge and legacy perhaps lost forever. The oldest participant in our pilot exhibition is 90 years old.

Each and every life lost to COVID-19 is a cause of sadness. It is clear that the virus is claiming the lives of people over the age of 70, and particularly those of Asian, African and Caribbean backgrounds at a disproportionately high and alarming rate. So, what was already a challenge for this project has been thrown into sharp focus by the pandemic, and has highlighted the importance and urgency of capturing this material and memories while we still have the opportunity.

People of Colour of younger generations sometimes believe they are facing challenges for the very first time - they are not able to draw strength and learning from creatives of colour who came before them, because their achievements have not been methodically documented. Capturing as many of these unique perspectives as possible is the goal of the Museum. We take this work very seriously and for us to do justice to these creative people we need to do a thoroughly professional job.

The Museum of Colour is a project produced by People's Palace Projects (PPP) and led by Samenua Sesher. The intention in future is that the Museum will constitute as a new organisation. All funds donated to this campaign will be ringfenced by PPP and used to meet the costs of this project, with any remaining funds at the end of the project transferred to the new organisation once it is established.

Photo credit: Sharron Wallace Photography