“I’d like the art to lead people to the history,” says Alison Smith, curator of Artist and Empire at Tate Britain. The exhibition features 500 years of art dealing with British colonialism and its legacy – from celebrations of the glories of Empire to contemporary works that expose the dark side of Imperialism and show its ramifications in the present.

The writer and Member of Parliament Kwasi Kwarteng meets the curator and talks to Hew Locke, a visual artist whose work has radically reinterpreted some of the triumphal statues to Britain’s imperial past that still stand in the UK today. Some think these statues should be torn down, but Locke disagrees: he wants them to stay as “a horrible reminder” and a spur for discussion and debate.

Artsnight: Kwasi Kwarteng on Empire is on BBC World News on 6 to 7 February 2016 – check the schedule for broadcast times where you are.

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