It’s part of exhibition in the official museum of European historyBlack Lives Matter protesters pull down statue of Edward Colston in Bristol
The rope used to pull down the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol back in 2020 is to be displayed in public for the first time.
The rope, along with a Banksy T-shirt and legal documents from the trial are part of a major new exhibition that opened over the weekend at The House of European History museum in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The museum was founded and is based at the EU headquarters.
The artefacts have been loaned by one of the four people acquitted of causing criminal damage to the statue back in June 2020, and it’s the first time that the rope – which was initially seized as part of the police’s case against three of the four – will be displayed to the world.
Ms Graham, who along with three other defendants, successfully proved their innocence after a trial in late 2021, has contributed to a section of the exhibition, which is called “Postcolonialism?” at the major Belgian museum.
The exhibition opened on April 17, and will run until March 14, 2027, and is a collection of unique artworks, historical objects and personal stories charting European colonialism from the 15th century right up to the present day.
As well as the rope used, a T-shirt designed by Banksy to fund-raise for the Colston 4, and signed by the defendants is also part of the exhibition, along with the legal directions from the trial and other paraphernalia associated with the toppling, including a copy of the Bristol Post from the day after the Colston Four were acquitted.
Artefacts relating to the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston are on display now at an exhibition called Postcolonial? which runs for a year at the House of European History museum in Brussels(Image: Rhian Graham)
Just a few days after the statue of Edward Colston was pulled down by a large crowd of people in Bristol, statues of King Leopold II were defaced, set on fire and pulled down across Belgium, as Belgians there began a backlash against the king of their country who took over a huge part of Africa in 1885, and oversaw what has been described as a massive genocide in Congo.
Belgium’s rule in what is now the DRC was so terrible it was condemned by other European nations and people – who themselves were ruling almost all of the rest of Africa at the time – in 1908, but many Belgians in 2020 said they had been largely unaware and hadn’t been educated about their country’s dark colonial past.
Many Belgians involved in the direct action against the statues of Leopold II said at the time they were inspired by the people in Bristol who pulled down the statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader who had been a key figure in the early industrialisation of the transatlantic slave trade in the late 17th century.
“Unique artworks, historical objects and personal stories accompany the visitor throughout this much-needed European reckoning with colonialism,” a spokesperson for the House of European History museum.
House of European History (HEH) is a museum in Brussels, Belgium focusing on the history of Europe since 1789. It is an initiative by the European Parliament and opened in 2017.(Image: Getty Images)
“The House of European History, opened in 2017, has a mission and a responsibility to examine Europe’s history. Our current displays do not say enough about the ongoing impacts of colonialism. They neglect the voices of those who suffered and resisted colonial violence.
“This exhibition marks the beginning of a journey for our team to address that shortcoming. The exhibition will be a catalyst to revise our displays throughout the rest of the museum,” they added.
READ MORE: Statue exhibition is ‘mayor’s exit propaganda’ says Colston 4 memberREAD MORE: Colston statue toppling five years on – we ask what difference it made
“This exhibition combines cultural objects historical documents, works by artists who engange with decolonisation, and eight films exploring the ways colonialism has shaped individuals’ lives.
Rhian Graham was an outspoken critic of the M-Shed’s exhibition which currently displays the statue of Edward Colston to the public – specifically, the contribution from then mayor Marvin Rees.
Rhian Graham, one of the Colston 4 acquitted of criminal damage for their part in the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, with the exhibition at the House of European History museum in Brussels(Image: Rhian Graham)
In that statement, the former mayor, now Lord Rees of Easton, incorrectly stated that the statue was ‘pulled down by four white people’, when video evidence from the scene showed that it was pulled down by around 40 people, many of whom were black, and some of those later accepted a police caution after the event.
His quote was the largest single contribution to the exhibition about the Colston statue, which was dubbed the mayor’s exit propaganda’ by Rhian in the days after it opened. She said it denied the involvement of black people in the toppling and personally attacked the Colston 4 protesters.
Artefacts relating to the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston are on display now at an exhibition called Postcolonial? which runs for a year at the House of European History museum in Brussels(Image: Rhian Graham)
The trial of the Colston 4 heard that three of them were on trial for the act of pulling down the statue but one was on trial for his part in a crowd which later rolled the statue to Pero’s Bridge to dump it in the Floating Harbour – not for the toppling itself.
At the time, the police released CCTV images of 18 people they wanted to speak to in connection with the toppling. Dozens of others involved, including many young black people, were unidentifiable in the crowd and not the subject of a police appeal.
Avon and Somerset police identified ten of those 18, and six of them accepted police cautions for their part that day.
A statue of Edward Colston was torn down by Black Lives Matter protesters(Image: SWNS)
The four on trial were not given the option of accepting a caution, were put on trial, and were eventually found not guilty by a jury.
The trial in December 2021 heard the defence’s case that the statue had actually increased in value by being the subject of the toppling, and so couldn’t be classed as criminal damage, and that the act of toppling the statue corrected a bigger offence committed by Bristol City Council in leaving the statue of a slave trader up in the city centre for 125 years, which was classed as an ‘indecent display’ and a ‘public nuisance’.