• A Fela Kuti music room
• A range of cloths printed with messages, proverbs and symbolic meanings
• Musical instruments such as atumpan ‘talking drums’ and a akonting from Gambia, believed to be a predecessor of the banjo
• A carnival costume newly designed by Brixton-based artist Ray Mahabir, based on the tradition of Bele, a drum dance and song closely linked to Caribbean history, struggle, freedom and celebration
• Textiles and music dedicated to Chinua Achebe
• A presentation of works by authors Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Sefi Atta
• A display celebrating the Nollywood film industry

So if there was ever a question about the significance of Africa to the development of culture and civilisation, this exhibition is a metaphorical bomb drop. Prepare to be enlightened.

West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song runs until 16th February 2016.  Entry is £10.  For more information visit www.bl.uk/events/west-africa-word-symbol-song.

Carnival costume designed by Ray Mahabir of Sunshine International Arts in 2015, based on Bele or Bel Air, a drum dance and song closely linked to Caribbean history, struggle, freedom and celebration. On display in West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song, photographed by Toby Keane.

Manuscript culture in Timbuktu in 2007 by photographer Alexandra Huddleston, on display in West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song © Alexandra Huddleston.

Fela Kuti photographed by Bernard Matussière, reproduced by kind permission of Knitting Factory Records for West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song.

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Tate Britain has now revealed the products of its labours, and to a resoundingly positive critical reception. The walls of the beautiful, top-lit galleries have been repainted a paradisiacal egg-shell blue, the floors waxed and the dark marble detailing polished to a high shine. It’s a brilliant setting for the history of British art, which is represented by display which have been re-organised to hang chronologically, according to the year the works were made.

This re-hang moves away from the application of ‘movements’ or broad cultural terms which, when retrospectively applied, can be misleading or restrictive of individual interpretation. There are no information panels, only a single date heading up each room. Instead of spending most of the visit peering at the writing on the wall, we are encouraged to look at the objects of art themselves, consider their means of production and kind of the British society for which they were made.

One of the greatest things about Tate’s big re-vamped re-hang is that there is no rush to take it all in at once. There isn’t any pending last weekend or last-chance-to-see, no waiting for that long bank holiday to come around. Take an old school British picnic down to the river before a wander around the collection, pop in on your lunch break, or complete the British experience with an early evening pint of locally brewed ale at a nearby pub. The collection is open all day and every day and, as always, admission is free. (Words: Florence Ritter)

For more info, visit: www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain

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