A Decade of Discovery: Reflecting on Ten Years of the V&A’s African and Caribbean Heritage Tours

For ten years, a dedicated cohort of volunteers has been transforming the way visitors experience the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Through the pioneering African and Caribbean Heritage Tours, these guides have navigated the complex intersections of art, history, and identity, turning the museum’s galleries into spaces for vital, and sometimes difficult, dialogue. As the programme marks its tenth anniversary, those at the heart of this initiative reflect on a decade of growth, emotional connection, and the evolving role of the museum in confronting the legacies of the past.

A Journey of Perspective and Growth

When Janet Browne, the V&A’s Senior Producer for Audience Development, first launched the project, it represented a watershed moment for the institution. It was the first museum programme of its kind to offer dedicated African and Caribbean Heritage Tours, seeking to uncover the presence of these communities within the museum’s vast collections.

For Pennie Mendes, a veteran museum guide, joining the project was a challenge that pushed her beyond her professional comfort zone. Despite her years of experience and two decades spent living and working in the Caribbean, she admitted to feeling a sense of trepidation when tasked with interpreting histories defined by colonialism and enslavement. Her breakthrough came through a test run in the Europe 1600–1815 galleries, where she stood before the marble Bust of a Black child. By speaking openly about the reality of young African boys being brought to Europe as ornamental servants in elite households, she realized that museum objects are never merely decorative. They are vessels for uncomfortable truths. When a Black visitor approached her that day to acknowledge her "bravery" in addressing these histories, it solidified her mission: to move beyond providing dry information and instead create a space where difficult history could be explored with honesty and empathy.

Guiding the Unseen: Ten Years of Transformation

For guide Joy Johnson, the past decade has felt like a process of constant discovery. "Time is a trickster," she reflects, noting how quickly the years have passed while remaining deeply significant. For her, the programme has been an "onion-peeling" experience, with each layer of research and visitor interaction revealing something unexpected. The intellectual rigor of the programme, supported by the V&A’s staff and research exchanges with other museums, has allowed these guides to evolve into sophisticated narrators of history.

Recognition from the wider heritage sector, including a Highly Commended Marsh Award, served as a humbling validation of their work. Yet, the true measure of success for Johnson remains the personal connections forged within the galleries. She recalls the early days of "magical mystery tours" where she occasionally lost her way, turning a planned route into an unplanned exploration of the museum’s corridors. These moments, however, humanized the experience. Whether it is the professional intensity of a guided tour or the lighthearted camaraderie at the annual staff party, the programme has created a unique community of storytellers who view their work as a vital service to the public.

Expanding the Narrative: From Silence to Agency

Nadia Denton, another member of the original cohort, notes that the programme has tapped into a massive public appetite for historical storytelling that goes beyond the conventional. By framing the museum’s objects through the lens of African and Caribbean history, the guides have made the collections more relatable and accessible.

A standout moment for Denton was delivering a session for the Friday Late: Fashioning Futures event with the media platform GUAP. The engagement of young adults, who were eager to learn about the presence of people of African descent in 17th and 18th-century art, underscored the relevance of this work for new generations. She highlights objects such as The Bust of a Child and the tapestry The March—an unlikely military landscape featuring a soldier of African descent—as essential touchpoints that allow visitors to recognize that these histories were always present, even if they were previously overlooked or ignored.

Cultural Bonding and the ‘Call and Response’

The impact of these tours on the audience has been profound. Avril Horsford describes the experience as a performance that transcends traditional museum etiquette. Drawing on her own cultural background, she notes that the tours often adopted a "call and response" dynamic familiar to many in the Caribbean church tradition. Rather than silent, passive observation, audiences engaged, laughed, wept, and even added their own knowledge to the narrative.

This shared, expressive participation transformed the gallery experience into something deeply communal. Horsford has seen this bond extend beyond the museum walls, with former tour attendees stopping her in the street to exchange hugs and stories like old friends. This shift from "buttoned-up" museum professional to a storyteller engaged in a living, breathing dialogue has been the hallmark of her ten-year journey.

The Power of Being Seen

For Kim Sheldon, the work is about the simple, radical act of asking visitors to "lean in." By focusing on paintings like The Ommegang in Brussels, which features three African figures—a camel driver, a drummer, and a page—in the middle of a 1615 celebration, she challenges the assumption that Africans were not part of the European historical narrative.

"Finding people who look like me, painted into a European celebration in 1615, and getting to say, ‘look, we were always here,’" is a sentiment that drives her work. The contrast between these older, embedded depictions and contemporary works—such as Sokari Douglas Camp’s Wrestling Oil Shell BP, which addresses modern environmental and political issues—illustrates the arc of the journey. The programme has evolved from pointing out marginalized figures in the margins of someone else’s history to engaging with works created by artists who tell their own stories on their own terms.

Looking Toward an Inclusive Future

Stella Akintan, who joined the programme with a background in community-based Black history, emphasizes that the initiative has always been a "movement" as much as a project. From the redesign of the Europe galleries to the ongoing efforts to address historical omissions, the guides have remained committed to making the V&A truly representative of the communities it serves.

The work is not without its tensions. Akintan notes that discussions regarding the restitution of objects, such as the Ethiopian Crown and religious regalia, often spark frustration and anger among visitors who are confronted with the injustices of the past. Navigating these emotions while maintaining a focus on the exquisite craftsmanship of the artifacts is a delicate balance that the guides have mastered over the years.

As the V&A’s collection continues to grow—incorporating works by contemporary artists like Hew Locke, Kehinde Wiley, and Virgil Abloh, alongside collaborative efforts like the Unity 2026 project—the importance of these tours has only increased. What began as an experimental project at the V&A has paved the way for similar initiatives at institutions like the British Museum and the Tate Modern.

On July 17, 2026, the guides were recognized for their decade of service during a commemorative event, receiving certificates and letters from the museum’s Director, Tristram Hunt. For the volunteers, the anniversary is a time for both celebration and reflection. They have spent ten years challenging the silence of the museum, ensuring that the histories of the African and Caribbean diaspora are not only acknowledged but celebrated as an essential part of our common human story. It has been a decade of tears, frustration, and, above all, hope, as they continue to shape a more inclusive future for museum visitors and future generations of storytellers.