Exhibitions
The Peace Museum’s unique exhibitions explore peace history as well as contemporary issues, local heritage, peacemakers’ stories and the ways in which people have worked to make the world a better place to live.
Our galleries are currently closed to the public as we prepare to move premises, but you can still learn more about the plans for our new galleries, and view our current digital and pop-up exhibitions below.
New galleries
We are currently redeveloping the content in our galleries in preparation to open the new Peace Museum in Salts Mill in summer 2024. We are working with visitor experience design company The Creative Core to create new permanent exhibitions which tell the stories represented within our collection. These designs are a first look at what our new exhibitions space will look like:
We will be running public consultation sessions in October and November 2023 to help shape the content in our new galleries – email us at [email protected] if you’re interested in taking part.
Digital exhibitions
Peace Out
Peace Out is a project exploring Peace and LGBTQ+ activism.
The exhibition first launched in 2019 on the occasion of 50 years since the Stonewall Riots in the museum’s main galleries. It has now been updated and made digital for 2021.
The exhibition aims to explore the journey from Stonewall, a moment in history that exemplifies violence perpetrated against LGBTQ+ people and their violent retaliation, and marks the beginning of the following struggle for equality and justice.
The first exhibition in the galleries was supported with funding from Museum Development Yorkshire. Peace OUT+ for 2021 was made possible thanks to funding from the Art Fund.
The exhibition is available to view now at www.peaceoutexhibition.com
Bombs…Away!
Bombs… Away! is a new digital exhibition exploring aerial bombardment, which uses The Peace Museum’s unique collection to examine both the impact of civilian bombing on society and the peace campaigns that have formed in response.
This project was supposed to launch at the museum as an exhibition in May 2020, but was delayed due to the covid-19 pandemic. We’re excited to be able to finally present this project as a digital exhibition.
The project has been possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
View the exhibition now at https://www.bombsawayexhibition.com/
Peace and Pandemic
Peace and Pandemic is a digital exhibition exploring the peace movement’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.
Since March 2020, when the World Health Organization officially declared the Covid-19 Pandemic, the museum has been collecting stories of the peacemakers’ responses, in order to keep the global community hopeful and connected.
Peace and Pandemic is an ongoing and responsive exhibition – if you have an object or story you’d like to contribute you can email our team at [email protected]
You can view the online exhibition now on website here
The Wild Escape
The Wild Escape is a project, created by Art Fund and supported with funding by Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants, that aims to celebrate UK wildlife and creativity.
We received funding from Art Fund to run free education sessions on the themes of The Wild Escape for schools in and around Bradford, and put together our own digital exhibition showcasing the students’ artworks.
You can view the online exhibition now on website here
Badges of Protest
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Greenham Common Peace camp, The Peace Museum worked with artist Layla Khoo in 2021, inviting members of the public to Artworks in Halifax to come and make their own protest badges. These events ran alongside Calder Valley CND’s ‘Our Greenham’ exhibition, which put the Greenham women’s peace camp into the context of the wider struggle against nuclear weapons, and featured several objects from The Peace Museum’s collection.
Badges of Protest features the badges made in these workshops alongside additional badges from our collection. View the mini-exhibition here.
Pop-up Exhibitions
As we are preparing to move premises, we are no longer loaning our temporary exhibitions to different venues. We will resume this activity once The Peace Museum is in its new home.
‘A Farewell to Arms?’ – Royal Armouries, Leeds
This exhibition was created in conjunction with the Royal Armouries and is on permanent display in the War Gallery on the second floor. It focuses on the idea of conversion – from war to peace, from weapons and armour to useful tools or symbolic images.
The display explores the positive changes that have been – and are still being – made by individuals, groups and whole nations that choose to replace conflict with peace.
Travelling Exhibitions
The Museum has several travelling exhibitions which can be loaned out and displayed. Take a look at our travelling exhibitions post or click the link to find out more information.