Event: Helen Mears speaks about the James Henry Green Collection at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery for ORTS

Event date: Wednesday 22 November, 7pm

This is an Oriental Rug and Textile Society event.

Colonel James Henry Green assembled a pre-eminent collection of textiles, photographs, notes, books and diaries from the northern hill states of Burma/Myanmar in the 1920s and 30s. In particular, Green’s documentation of life in Kachin State in northern Burma/Myanmar constitutes a rare if not unique visual record of life in this area at this time. In 1992, the James Henry Green Charitable Trust chose Brighton Museum & Art Gallery to be the long-term caretaker of the collection.

Helen Mears is Keeper of World Art at Royal Pavilion & Museums and a lecturer and doctoral student at the University of Brighton. In this talk, she will introduce the Green collection and talk about its continuing relevance to Kachin people in and outside of Burma/Myanmar.

The talk will be held at St James Conference Room, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL.

The Conference Room entrance is in the Church Place passageway, which runs between Jermyn Street and Piccadilly.  There is a wrought iron gate signed ‘Church Hall Conference Room’ leading downstairs.  Drinks and snacks will be served.

Piccadilly Circus tube is 5 minutes’ walk, and Green Park Tube is 10 minutes’ walk.  There is free parking in St James Square after 6.30pm.

Please note this is an Oriental Rug and Textile Society event, but non-members are welcome to attend: £7 single lecture, £5 students, or choose £20 for one year’s membership (11 events).

For more information, visit the website of the Oriental Rug and Textile Society.

Event: Creating African Fashion Histories – A One-Day Conference

Event date: Wednesday 2 November 2016

A one-day conference hosted by Royal Pavilion & Museums with the Sussex Africa Centre / University of Sussex and the University of Brighton.

Coinciding with the first major UK exhibition dedicated to contemporary African fashion, Fashion Cities Africa, this conference will explore the possibilities and limitations of dress and fashion history to discuss current and past narratives in African fashion.

Panels will focus on the construction of African fashion histories, the role of African diasporas in the translation of African fashions, new directions in collecting and curating African fashion, and the evolution of new platforms for the dissemination of African fashion. Speakers include Hannah Pool (author, Fashion Cities Africa, curator of Africa Utopia), Helen Jennings (author, New African Fashion), Carol Tulloch (author, The Birth of Cool: Style Narratives of the African Diaspora), Erica de Greef, Heather Akou (author, The Politics of Dress in Somali Culture) and Victoria Rovine (author, African Fashion, Global Style).

Conference fee: £50 full price, £35 concessions. This fee includes tea and coffee and, following the conference, an evening reception with the opportunity to view the exhibition Fashion Cities Africa. Lunch is not included.

Venue: Old Courthouse Lecture Theatre, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery

Booking: You can book a place at the conference through the online ticket system or by returning a downloadable form.

For more information, visit the Brighton Museums website.