Amplifying Marginalised Voices – Unique Lincoln Library Collection Celebrated with Student Artwork

A Lincoln student has won a competition to design a piece of artwork which promotes and highlights a unique Lincoln library collection that aims to amplify marginalised voices.

The competition ran as part of the University of Lincoln UK’s ongoing commitment to reflect on its understanding, awareness and appreciation of knowledge and cultures, and to represent the voices and perspectives of black, indigenous and other non-white people who have been marginalised.

Rhoda Datsomor, an MA Fine Art student at Lincoln, said: “The mural was influenced by my final project, titled ‘Be Your Black’ while studying BA (Hons) Illustration at Lincoln. I explored the impact of Eurocentric beauty standards on the Black community, and was inspired by the research for my dissertation, ‘The Impact of Black British Artists in the Histories of Contemporary British Art’.

“I think both projects helped me understand the context and the importance of including diverse voices equally when making decisions in any job or industry, particularly leadership roles as they are important for representation that impact all types of roles. I enjoyed my projects, so when I saw the email for the decolonisation competition, I wanted to create my own interpretation of it.

“For the design, I wanted to feature the acknowledgment that change is happening and should happen, which is why the girl holding the poster is at the front. I also wanted to feature the books, but I wanted to use them to show that it is harder and takes longer for People of Colour to get the same representation or voice, which is why I added the people climbing the books to get to the top. The table at the top signifies the importance and aspiration of getting a set at the top to share your ideas.

“Personally, this illustration represented my own aspirations, of reaching my career goals after graduating in the creative industry, where I can inspire people that look like me to go after their passion.”

Oonagh Monaghan, Academic Subject Librarian at the University of Lincoln and competition lead, said: “The University of Lincoln’s library is central in developing an understanding of the Decolonising@Lincoln project and we can do that by revealing coloniality of existing collections. I’m conscious that an integral part of decolonising should be that we think about it in everything we do, as much as we can.

“Rhoda’s design is a really powerful representation of how colonialism has been holding up the dominant voices and how we have the power to reveal the marginalised voices which have been hidden or ignored for so long.”

More information about the University of Lincoln’s Decolonisation Library Collection can be found online: www.lincoln.ac.uk/decolonisingatlincoln/library/.