Museum of Others

‘Museum of Others’ emerges from Christian Thompson’s long-standing engagement with the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. During Thompson’s Doctoral candidacy at Trinity College from 2010 – 2015 he worked intimately with the Australian photographic collection, generating his acclaimed series ‘We Bury Our Own’ which has been shown extensively in his native Australia, UK, USA and Asia.

The artist acts as an interpreter, exploring how historical collections can become active contemporary forces in the production of new cultural expression. Thompson is not critiquing the rubric of museum display but rather engaging collections in a process of auto-ethnography. Utilising processes of research and reflection, combined with his own biography, to bring to the fore unseen or concealed narratives and voices within such collections. His practice extending upon a terrain pioneered by artists such as Marina Abramovic (who has mentored Thompson), Marcel Broodthaers, Andy Warhol, Hans Haacke, James Luna, Renee Green and Fred Wilson. Thompson has emerged as an important figure in this unique lineage.