In 2009 a set of five paintings were discovered in the art stores of Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, by a trainee curator.  These paintings had been discarded after being used for restoration training and were in a very distressed state. This curator saw something fascinating within the paintings and decided to do some research to find out more about the paintings. She found that these were the first form of racial classification ever found. This curator was me, Tara Munroe now the founder of Opal22 Arts and Edutainment. It has taken me over ten years to finally be able to tell the stories of these amazing paintings.

Opal22 will be creating a collection of events/experiences that will help you to understand the context of these paintings and how the colonial ideals around race and identity were created and the effects they have on today’s current society. The paintings will be going through a complete restoration process, so we can showcase them in a full exhibition to be shown at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery in 2023. The whole process will also be developed into a documentary to benefit all in the future.