Research questions 

Christopher Samuel’s research questions:

• What does Birmingham Museums Trust's archive hold that relates to the lives of disabled people and disabled people of colour?
• Whose lens are those stories currently being told through? How are they being spoken about? And how were those objects acquired?

Followed by:

• How do I find missing stories and people?
• What connects the people I met and stories I heard? 

About the project

Birmingham Museums is a partner on the University of the Arts London Decolonising Arts Institute 20/20 project: an ambitious 3-year programme combining artist residencies with artistic commissioning at scale, funded by Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England and UAL. 20/20 has brought together 20 emerging artists of colour and 20 UK public art collections, leading to 20 new permanent acquisitions.

The artist in residence at Birmingham Museums is Christopher Samuel, a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics. Often echoing the many facets of his own lived experience as a Black disabled man, his work tells stories, highlighting the often unseen experiences of his day-to-day life and those of others in similar circumstances. His practice includes small, detailed ink drawings, film, print, audio, research, and large installations. Samuel works alongside galleries, museums, archives and other institutions to address missing representation in our cultural spaces.

Samuel’s residency culminates in Watch Us Lead, an exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery which opened on 5 June 2025.

Watch Us Lead is an exhibition about missing stories from history. Through it, Samuel explores themes of stigma, belonging, and agency.

Through nine newly recorded interviews for the city of Birmingham’s collection, the exhibition highlights the experiences of disabled brown and Black individuals: a largely underrepresented group within the community of Birmingham. Their voices shaped the exhibition's form, feeling, and tone, with all other elements woven around them.

The exhibition combines these stories with stained glass and drawings that reflect significant moments in the lives of the individuals featured. It also includes objects Samuel has selected from Birmingham's own collection and from the Midland Mencap Archive, to build a fuller picture of the historic disabled experience in Birmingham.

This exhibition aims to spark conversations around the ongoing issues of under-representation, autonomy, and the real disabled experience. 

Links

• Watch Us Lead exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
• The UAL 20/20 Project website.
• Christopher Samuel website.