The Gallery of Living History (GoLH) in a non-profit organisation that seeks to explore and debate the notion of history, memory, and culture through research and content creation.

All too often ordinary people feel estranged or marginalised in the telling of history. History as currently told is the story of great men and the default is to celebrate the achievements of these men as though there were no others behind them. The Gallery of Living History aims to give the marginalised the ability to unearth the stories of the unsung people who created our infrastructure, our towns, cities, and systems, the many whose strength, energy, efforts and endurance established our communities, and enabled our country to become what it is. Through GOLH, ordinary people can retell the stories and celebrate the unsung, who are after all, all of our forebears.

It has its roots within the ongoing national conversation about history and the relationship between our past and our present, thrown up by events like the death of George Floyd and the furore around contested statutory. It aims to develop initiatives that talk to these themes through the creation of different media experiences across audio, video, augmented and virtual reality, live performance and more. 

It is the brainchild of actor, director, producer, and performance artist Andy Serkis and producer Jonathan Cavendish in collaboration with philanthropist and Coventry University Chancellor Margaret Casely Hayford CBE and artistic director Jude Tyrrell.

To find out more about the Gallery of Living History, visit our About Us page.

To donate to the Gallery of Living History, visit our Why the Gallery of Living History? page.

Congratulations to Blue Coat Church of England School on winning the 2023-2024 Gallery of Living History Schools’ Competition!


Students and staff from Blue Coat Church of England School, which won this year’s Gallery of Living History Schools’ Competition with their entry celebrating audio pioneer Delia Derbyshire, were celebrated at a special event at the Delia Derbyshire Building at Coventry University’s College of Arts and Society. The award was presented by Dr Margaret Casely-Hayford, CBE, trustee of the Gallery of Living History and GoLH co-founder Andy Serkis, film-maker and actor. The project was led for Coventry University by Dr Bianca Wright, Curriculum Lead: Immersive and Associate Professor. Special thanks to Dr Roger Medwell for his support of the Gallery of Living History project.


Learn more about our Schools’ Competition and try the winning entry in augmented reality (AR) on the Schools’ Competition page!

Uncovering the Untold

The Gallery of Living History is all about telling the stories of unsung heroes and we collaborate with other organisations to bring those untold stories to light. Stories like this one, told by the Arthur Wharton Foundation, exemplify the Gallery of Living History’s mission to tell untold stories. Find out more about the Gallery of Living History’s mission on our Why the Gallery of Living History? page.

Watch the story of Arthur Wharton, the first world’s official fastest man

Video credit: Arthur Wharton Foundation

Make a donation.

The Gallery of Living History is a charity and has been entered onto the Register of Charities with the Registered Charity Number 1206916

To support the work of the Gallery of Living History, click the button below to donate.

Our Areas of Work

  • Frederick Douglass

    The Frederick Douglass Project is a VR/AR re-enactment of a speech given by one of the most famous slavery abolitionist campaigners, who had himself been enslaved and became a world renowned orator, In 1847 Frederick Douglass, gave a lecture about the evils of slavery, from St Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry. He was welcomed by ordinary people in Coventry, the symbolism of this historically welcoming and diverse city will be clear and celebrated. GOLH will create a VR interactive experience inviting local descendants of the original Coventrians as well as people more recently arrived in Coventry as members of the filmed audience to a real live actor’s rendition of Frederick Douglass’s passionate speech and explanation of his life and aims for freedom for enslaved people. This re-enactment brings this important piece of local history to life for the people of the West Midlands, Coventry and its visitors.

  • Black Sound

    The Black Sound exhibition will herald an advertising campaign to a celebratory weekend long event, that will open with a panel led by journalist and Music Professor Lloyd Bradley with the participants bringing their favourite object with a music legacy theme for submission into the digital archive.

    The participants will include well known figures such as Jazzie B or Courtney Pine, alongside local Coventry music luminaries.

    They present their chosen artefact to the audience and then discuss its significance with Lloyd and the rest of the panel.

    This opens the way to a fabulous Exhibition of music artefacts that music professionals Scott Leonard and Lloyd Bradley have amassed over the years.

  • Digital Mapping

    The digital mapping experience focuses on developing ambitious interactive experiences that build on the work we have undertaken using statues as a framework for exploring history and bringing together communities. ​

    GoLH has worked with students from Coventry University to develop a database of statues across the Midlands. The next step is to develop a physical space where participants move across a map of the UK and use augmented reality experiences to bring the histories and stories from each statue to life.

    We imagine a space that participants walk into to view a map on the floor with a code upon it to indicate where statues are across the UK. Walking across this floor, and using AR, participants will be able to view and walk around the statues located across the map.

The Gallery of Living History is engaging young people in debates around history

Gallery of Living History Schools’ Competition 2023-2024

Schools across the Midlands were invited to enter our 2023-2024 Schools’ Competition and nominate a person or group of people that they felt should be celebrated and memorialised in some way. The winning entry has been developed into an immersive audio experience in augmented reality (AR) and showcased in Starley Gardens, Coventry and on web and social platforms.

To find out more, see some of the work produced and meet the amazing panel of judges who will be judging the competition in conjunction with a public vote, visit our schools’ competition page.

For the first time, we asked the public to have a say in the outcome of our schools’ competition by voting for their preferred entry and we had more than 5,000 votes cast!

Schools’ Workshops 2024

Teams from schools in the Midlands took part in a day of workshops focused on developing their skills in audio production and augmented reality (AR). Delivered by staff and students at Coventry University, the workshops helped teams develop their approach to telling the stories of the unsung heroes they are nominating.

The end product will be an audio soundscape in augmented reality that will be showcased on an interactive plinth in Starley Gardens, Coventry and online through web and social platforms.

WINNING SCULPTURE UNVEILED

On Thursday, 23 June 2022, the Gallery Of Living History team unveiled an interactive plinth displaying the winning artwork from the Gallery of Living History schools’ competition. The plinth and artwork, situated in Starley Gardens on the Coventry University campus, is now open to the public for viewing. Click here to learn more.

 

ARTWORK UNVEILING

We are incredibly excited to announce that we will be unveiling the winning artwork from our 2022 Schools Competition on Thursday, 23 June 2022! For more info please follow the link.

 

THE SCHOOL’S COMPETITION 2022 WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

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