‘The Empire’s Old Clothes’ challenges colonial propaganda in new exhibition

The Empire’s Old Clothes by Priya Mistry, who works under the pseudonym whatsthebigmistry, opens at Attenborough Arts Centre. The work challenges the myths and propaganda of the ‘British Empire’ and draws on influences, aesthetics and politics from Indian and Afro-Futurism, queer culture and experiences of ableism and racism in post-Empire Brexit-Britain.

The exhibition is centred around a short non-linear film (The Empire’s Old Clothes) which borrows from the symbolic style of ‘tableaux vivant’, science education films and Empire propaganda. This piece is inspired by the folktale of The Emperor’s New Clothes, which speaks about the ways in which deceitful narratives support out-dated and malevolent power structures. The film utilises and subverts the language/s of Empire and the embedded belief systems that live within it.

This work was originally commissioned in 2022 by Unlimited and Disability Arts Online (DAO), with support from ONYX. The commission was initiated in response to the Queen’s Honours List and was brought about specifically due to one Unlimited’s Senior Producers being awarded and accepting an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). This was viewed by many as an awkward and controversial decision.

This Empire’s Old Clothes is at once a provocation and an invitation to rethink and rewrite ‘histories’, to demand change and define what it really means to take action against racism. The Commission was made by a team wholly made up of intersectional BIPOC / Global Majority identifying artists and professionals.

This work is not only for those who identify as British, have dual Heritage or who have a ‘British Experience’ or those who identify as Dis/abled, queer or those who experience exclusion. It also seeks to connect to those who don’t experience racism, think the Empire has already ended and consider colonialism obsolete.

Following its completion in 2022, the film was briefly presented at The Southbank Centre Queen Elizabeth Hall in September but rapidly cancelled from the programme within hours of the death of Queen Elizabeth. This new exhibition at Attenborough Arts Centre is the first time the work has been presented publicly since.

In response to the cancellation of the work at The Southbank Centre, Unlimited (with funding from The British Council) consequently commissioned Mistry to undertake residencies in South Africa (SA) in 2023-25, collaborating with intersectional SA creatives. The resulting project, OODOSIM, actively explores and evokes Black and Brown Joy.

The Empire’s Old Clothes exhibition is accompanied by a multi-city engagement and events programme which embraces Black and Brown Joy as resistance.

Alongside the exhibition is out upcoming Attenborough Late, curated by whatsthebigmistry and Attenborough Arts Centre. This edition will be in collaboration with artist whatsthebigmistry for an evening of music, performance and art to celebrate and re-imagine Black and Brown joy. Friday 9 May, 6pm – 10pm, to book your place visit the website.

The exhibition takes place in Gallery 2 from 24 April to 29 June, free for all and open 7 days a weeks.