ABSTRACT
This chapter is an attempt to explore my curatorial and spiritual journey with the only surviving portrait of George Alexander Gratton (hailed the ‘Spotted Negro Boy’), from the walls of a quiet church in Marlow to its eventual place at the centre of the exhibition titled A Visible Difference: Skin, Race & Identity 1720–1820, which I curated in 2007 in partnership with the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Through this narrative I hope to show how art, history and the museum space synergistically converged to offer a unique and topical commentary on the human experience, and a window into contemporary issues and worlds.
