Portrait of the tyrant Thomas Picton moved to a side room in the Welsh Museum | Museums

For more than a century the portrait of Thomas Picton held pride of place in the National Museum Cardiff, with the image’s description hailing him as a military hero rather than a tyrant and torturer, before it was removed from the view following Black Lives Matter protests.

From Monday, the two-metre-tall portrait of Lt Gen Picton is back on display in the Welsh capital – but in a very different context.

After months of anguished consultation and debate, the portrait hung not in the museum’s large Faces of Wales gallery, but in a modest side room, and is contained in a purpose-built travel case of softwood and scrap plywood, with a strut covering the bulging groin area of ​​the figure.

It is surrounded by vivid descriptions of Picton’s brutal treatment of the people of Trinidad when he was governor at the turn of the 19th century, including the torture of Luisa Calderón, a 14-year-old girl of mixed background.

To reach the portrait, the visitor passes through two further rooms filled with a pair of thought-provoking works specially commissioned by artists from Trinidad or with strong ties to the island, as part of an exhibition called Reframing Picton.

Dr Kath Davies, director of collections and research at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales – said she felt the packing case symbolized the idea that the Picton portrait did not necessarily and automatically have a residence permanent at the museum. “I think it shows that nothing is set in stone, it’s a dynamic process,” she says. “The conversations will continue to grow as we move forward.”

Davies was also thrilled that the strut hid what she called Picton’s “glands and testosterone.”

The saga of the portrait of Picton, a native of Pembrokeshire in south-west Wales and the highest-ranking British officer killed in the Battle of Waterloo, has parallels with that of the merchant statue. slaves Edward Colston, who was overthrown. and cast into Bristol harbour.

Bristol City Council set up a commission which decided the statue should be displayed in a city museum – horizontally and still smeared with paint – and its old plinth topped with temporary artwork but sometimes left empty .

In Cardiff, the national museum worked with young members of the Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel (SSAP), which was set up to represent African diaspora groups in Wales, and the Amgueddfa Cymru Producers, young people from across the Wales.

Fadhili Maghiya, the chief executive of SSAP, said it was important that Picton was not hidden but present so the story could be told. “It seems crucial,” he said. “There might be misconceptions that we are seeking to rewrite history with this project. However, that is far from the truth. Reframing Picton aims to rewrite our future by challenging the way we engage in the ‘story.

The first room the visitor enters is full of light – and horror. This is an immersive work called Spirited, created by Laku Neg (Black Yard in Haitian Kweyòl), a group of four British artists, three of whom are of Trinidadian origin. The visitor meanders through bamboo frames decorated with twisted paper to learn – and feel – the story of Luisa and two other girls, Thisbe and Present, who fell victim to Picton’s brutal regime.

He is unafraid of the terrible way Luisa, after being accused of theft, was tortured, hanging from a scaffolding by her wrist for almost an hour, her entire weight resting on an overturned wooden peg.

Among the many striking items is a cabinet full of artifacts from the museum’s collection that tell stories of slavery, repression and colonization, from sugar cutters to a crate of hummingbirds collected in Trinidad.

In the second room, The Wound is a Portal is the creation of Gesiye, a Nigerian-born multidisciplinary artist from Trinidad and Tobago, whose response to Picton’s portrayal includes tattoos, performances, drawings, film and documentary work.

In addition to launching the Reframing Picton exhibit, the museum is at the start of a 10-year project to “decolonize” its entire collection by re-examining every piece, from its soft toys to numerous images.

When the Picton exhibition ends in a year, the two newly commissioned pieces will become part of the National Collection of Wales – but what happens next to the Picton portrait is still up for debate.

Meanwhile, where the portrait hung is an image of a more down-to-earth and less controversial Welsh figure, the tailor and ditch William Lloyd, by Albert Houthuesen.