For immediate release
Museum of British Colonialism
Press Release
The Museum of British Colonialism presents 3D digital reconstructions of colonial era detention centres
The Museum of British Colonialism is excited to announce the release of our very first 3D digital reconstructions. The work was created in partnership with African Digital Heritage, and focuses on two colonial era detention centres in Kenya’s Central Region; Aguthi and Mweru. The British colonial administration erected and operated both sites as part of a country-wide ‘pipeline’ comprising over 100 detention camps, works camps and emergency villages used to detain and control the native Kenyan population during the 1952 – 1960 State of Emergency.
‘The work I have seen today gives me hope’
– MBC Event Attendee, McMillian Library (Nairobi), August 2019
Models were created by Chao Tayiana, Mike Wanjala and Grace Sampao in the MBC Nairobi team as part of a larger effort by the Museum team to creatively communicate a more truthful account of British colonial history in Kenya. They are the first in a series that aims to fully restore information, knowledge and awareness of British counterinsurgency techniques in Kenya during the 1950s. We present these digital reconstructions not as final outputs but as initial visuals that can help us generate and continue conversations on the presence of detention centres, works camps and Emergency villages in Kenya during the colonial period.
Background
The Museum of British Colonialism is a not-for-profit, grassroots, volunteer-led, UK / Kenyan initiative. We were founded in January 2018 by Olivia Windham Stewart in the UK and Susan Kibaara, Mary Njorogo and Tayiana Chao in Kenya. Our team has now expanded to include more members in the UK, Kenya and further afield. To date, we have secured small amounts of funding from Kickstarter and UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies. You can find our website here, with information on our work, our projects, resource pages, blog posts and more. You can also find us on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
You are welcome to contact us by email at info@museumofbritishcolonialism.org, or by phone in either Kenya: +254 (0) 723 169230 or the UK: +44 (0) 7814 273 789.