The Coloureds' Codex, An Overseers' Guide to Comparative Complexion & A Gentleman's Guide to the Restraint of Negroes (The Lost Vitrines)

‘The Coloureds’ Codex, An Overseers’ Guide to Comparative Complexion’ and ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to the Restraint of Negroes’ are two surviving elements from a larger artwork. ‘The Lost Vitrines’ by Keith Piper, was commissioned as part of an exhibition titled ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ in 2007 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, to mark the bicentennial of An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade,1807.
The artworks were part of a fictionalised set of objects and books created by Piper to mimic the look and feel of historical artefacts. These artworks were then placed within the galleries, working to imitate, mock and parody the decorative objects on display within the V&A. The work sought to challenge the narrative of the permanent displays, which reinforced the perception of British culture during the 17th and 18th century as the so called ‘Age of Enlightenment’.
The two elements of Keith Piper’s work seen here help us to refocus and to rethink our perceptions and ideas of what took place in this period in British history. They show that the hidden history of enslavement and its legacy of racism were as much a product of this period in British history as scientific discovery and ‘high culture’.