Museums often position their outreach to marginalized communities as benevolent gestures of inclusion. But when institutions rooted in colonial legacies ask for “help” from those they historically subordinated, how does this request embody colonial power dynamics, and what histories are activated beneath these gestures?

This panel interrogates the ethics and ontology of “help” within museum spaces – examining when it becomes a continuation of extractivism, and when it can be transformed into meaningful solidarity.

Drawing on their personal histories and professional work across the Global North and South, four fellows of the Sharing Stories on Contested Histories program explore themes of ancestral memory, colonial infrastructure, racial capitalism, and the emotional toll of institutional engagement. Centering the Surinamese kappa (sugar cauldron) at the Rijksmuseum – a relic of slavery and resistance – the conversation asks: Can museums truly care for people, or only for objects? Can justice be achieved through the very structures built to uphold dominance?

Together, the panelists reflect on knowledge, conservation, and resistance as living practices. They offer not a roadmap for reform, but a provocation: what if true help begins with refusal, unlearning, and a redistribution of power?

Our panelists will be:

• Charlotte van Braam | Artist-researcher and educator, Netherlands
• Christian Reeder | Scholar, curator, and cultural anthropologist, USA
• Jéssica Hipolito | Museologist, educator, and researcher, Brazil
• Leilani Wong | Multidisciplinary researcher, French Polynesia

This event will be free both for MEG members and non-members, so please share the details with any colleagues who might be interested. You can register through WebCollect. Please note that if you’re not a MEG member you may have to create a free account on WebCollect to register for the event. If you have any questions or issues registering please get in touch with our Events Officer.