Woman turns home into museum after getting sick of black women being ignored by the art world

There is a museum like no other in Philadelphia. You would not have heard it, it is not listed anywhere and there are no signs from the motorway. Metro.co.uk reporter Adam Smith was the museum’s first European visitor.

Only the hand carved wooden sign in the garden hinted that the Victorian house was not like any other home in the world – and the woman who opened the door had the smile of someone who knew she was about to amaze you.

For years Vashti Dubois was sick of not seeing any images of black girls or women in museums and art galleries, so three years ago she decided to do something about it.

The 56-year-old turned her house into The Colored Girls Museum, celebrating everything about black women and their place in the universe

Standing in the hallway, which screams with colour due to every inch being painted, she said: ‘If things ain’t right you got to make them right, and if you can change things, you gotta change them.’

After opening one room to the public, she decided to turn her bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen and her son’s bedroom into art galleries.

She said: ‘There are a lot of museums about a lot of different things, so we thought there should be one about the coloured girl because there are no places that look at their experiences.

‘We want to show who she is in her day-to-day life as a sister, a lover, a friend, an artist, a victim. We want to show that if there were no coloured girls, the system would collapse.’

As well as the museum’s collection of artefacts, paintings, dolls, textiles and sculptures, artists take over rooms and spaces for art installations.

At first Vashti sought the help of artists she knew personally – but word soon spread, and soon she was being contacted by some of the world’s best upcoming artists.

And unlike most museums, this is personal. There are no walking tours headsets, no bored-looking security guards, and not a gift shop in sight.

Which is a relief. I’ve been to the Titanic museum in Missouri, where the dignity of those who died was lost somewhere in an iceberg-shaped gift shop. I have even bought a plastic replica key of the …

Please read original article – Woman turns home into museum after getting sick of black women being ignored by the art world