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Rhodes House By John Cairns 271021 182

The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest (first awarded in 1902) international scholarship programme, enabling outstanding young people from around the world to study at the University of Oxford.

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The World Reimagined

18 globes were on display in the gardens of Rhodes House during Summer 2023. The globes shine an unflinching light on challenging parts of our collective history.

The World Reimagined (TWR) aims to transform how UK society understands the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its impact on all of us, in order to make racial justice a reality. From August to November 2022, TWR exhibited 100+ large Globe sculptures in 7 cities across the UK and engaged 3.52 million+ visitors with the trail. Their work extends into education in schools, the launch of an online heritage collection of 300+ stories and more.

Over the summer of 2023, the Rhodes Trust hosted 18 of these unique Globe sculptures, presenting a Journey of Discovery which explored themes ranging from ‘Mother Africa’ to ‘Still We Rise’ and ‘Expanding Soul’ with an enormous range of interpretations, creative styles and storytelling. Their presence at Rhodes House encourages us to reflect on the Rhodes Scholarship, its complex and difficult past, its vibrant present, and its future full of hope.

November 2023 marked the first annual discussion in collaboration with TWR, solidifying a lasting partnership as well as the Trust's long-term commitment to discussions directly confronting its complex history and legacy.

The Rhodes Trust now has two globes on permanent display in the gardens of Rhodes House:

Ecology of Existence by Hannaa Hamdache, Sarah Mensah & Gabrielle Ubakanma - “Our globe takes the power, resistance and beauty of Black people and celebrates them in a unified design. Painted onto a black background, the 54 national flowers of each African country are positioned across the equator of the globe, alongside a green, chain-inspired, vine motif. This design symbolises the ecosystem of the Black community and the important role that each member plays.”

Shine Bright by Geoffery Chambers - “Shine Bright inverts our gaze to evoke an uninhabited space in our imagination. Here, down is up, west is east. A new perspective, a dislocated world view for Africa and the Atlantic, familiar yet not so. We know this place, but in this altered globe there is a shift in relations, a rubbing against the nominative imposition of our identities, our cultures, our texts, our histories, our nations and our attachment to them.”

The sun shines brightly on the front of Rhodes House which has four brightly coloured globes by the World Reimagined outside.
3 women admiring the brightly coloured globes in Rhodes House garden
Globes arranged across the lawn of Rhodes House garden as a couple admire them from a distance
The sun shines brightly on the front of Rhodes House which has four brightly coloured globes by the World Reimagined outside.
3 women admiring the brightly coloured globes in Rhodes House garden
Globes arranged across the lawn of Rhodes House garden as a couple admire them from a distance

"The World Reimagined is based on the principle that in order to move forward, we have to honestly face our past and present. And the reality of our past and present is often incredibly difficult.

"The Board of The World Reimagined accepted the invitation from The Rhodes Trust to host an exhibition at Rhodes House after long consideration. We recognise that the name and legacy of Rhodes brings with it pain and a history rooted in extraction and white supremacy.

"Yet it is all of our shared history. It happened. And we must face up to it together in order to create a future for racial justice – and that sometimes means taking this conversation to spaces and places that are historically rooted in racial injustice.  And so we considered the present-day mission and work of The Rhodes Trust and concluded that they have a sincere and deep commitment to facing our past and transforming the future, demonstrated by the steps they have taken so far and those they have committed to.

"Ultimately, if our society is to be able to transform away from white supremacy, the very organisations that have benefited from it must be a part of that transformation.

"We hope The World Reimagined exhibition at Rhodes House offers a meaningful space of public dialogue on the urgent question of how we shine an unflinching light on challenging parts of our history, so that together we make racial justice a reality in a way that honours our ancestors."

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