I have spent a lot of time in the British Museum over the years,
and it was really fascinating to join a tour with the Black History Studies team,
led by Mark Simpson.

We started in the Egyptian Galleries, where there is a lot of evidence that overlapping Black African history and even faces have been deliberately obscured over time.

We then moved to the main 'African galleries' in the basement.

The Benin Bronzes are now famous, partly thanks to Dan Hicks at the Oxford Pitt-Rivers Museum,
and a growing campaign to return stolen artefacts to their peoples.

There are a lot of beautiful and also some disturbing things in this gallery,
including textiles, pottery and metalwork.

I keep returning to this strange space wheneven I am in London.
It is one of the few places to see this range of objects,
but also a source of great sorrow these are so inaccessible
to the people who should really be caring for, and having easy access, to them.

The Edo masks are beautiful - imbued with incredible individual personalities.

Other statues embedded with nails, or made from recycled guns, are very powerful
- I find myself avoiding them.

Do check out the Black History Studies courses and tours - I highly recommend them.