Right now, I am stood in the British Museum’s Great Court, beneath its vaulted glass ceiling. In front of me, inside a clear glass bottle, is a piece of thick, crude oil, taken from the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico – the toxic remains of BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill. Alongside it are nine other objects all placed on black plinths, from a tear gas cartridge found in Tahrir Square to a West Papuan flag, and from an Arpillera tapestry sewn by Latin American activists to a photo of a Colombian trade unionist. Each object tells a story of BP’s impacts around the world and together they ask: why does the British Museum continue to be sponsored by this corporate criminal?
