Wellcome Collection closes 'racist, sexist' Medicine Man exhibition after 15 year run on Euston Road

A London museum has shut one of its displays over concerns it contained "racist, sexist and ableist theories and language".

The Wellcome Collection closed Medicine Man after 15 years, saying it couldn't "change our past" but would work towards a different future.

Museum founder Sir Henry Wellcome amassed over a million books, paintings and objects from around the world.

Some of those objects were curated in the museum before he died in 1936 and staff said colonial power shaped how the exhibition was put together.

'Significant turning point'

"The result was a collection that told a global story of health and medicine in which disabled people, Black people, Indigenous peoples and people of colour were exoticised, marginalised and exploited – or even missed out altogether," the Wellcome Collection said.

The museum said the closure marked a "significant turning point", adding "we want to do better".

One of the controversial works was a painting called A Medical Missionary Attending to a Sick African.

It which showed an African person kneeling in front of a missionary.

The museum said it was now looking to the future, adding: "Over the coming years, a major project will amplify the voices of those who have been previously erased or marginalised from museums, bringing their stories of health and humanity to the heart of our galleries."

The Wellcome Collection is free to visit and aims to challenge how people think and feel about health.

In 2017, the museum said it began a period of "reflection and review" to coincide with its tenth anniversary.

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