Colonialism brief
For this brief I took inspiration from the 2020 vandalism of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol due to his history as a slave owner and trader. This inspired me to take a look at the lasting legacy of colonialism on the country and the rest of the world. Signs of the history of slavery are present in different places in the world, but also in people's attitudes and the events that take place. The Black lives matter protests in 2020 brought attention to the racial inequality that still exists today, and that although slavery is illegal, reminders of it is all around us.
I have used a combination of collage and original illustrations to approach this brief. On the left of this sketchbook spread there is an illustration of Edward Colston and an empty crossword that I filled in with appropriate words. On the right is the cover for my piece on the international slavery museum.
For research for this brief, I did a virtual tour of the international slavery museum in Liverpool.
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/international-slavery-museum/virtual-tour
The tour was educational and inspirational for this project, and I decided to make a small piece dedicated to the museum itself. Throughout the virtual tour, I took screenshots of the artifacts, information and pictures that caught my eye the most and included them all in this piece. I used watercolours, markers, fineliners and acrylic paint. This is my favourite part of the work I have done for this brief.
For this sketchbook spread, I have used a combination of collage and my drawings. This page includes pictures from Empire magazine, which was published in October 2020, which is Black history month in the Uk. The magazine discusses film and tv, and in this issue included information and pictures on the film 'Judas and the black Messiah' which discusses the activism of the Black Panther party, and the television series 'small axe' which tells multiple stories of the lives of different black people living in the Uk, including an episode on the Mangrove nine.
On this spread in my sketchbook I concentrated specifically on the case of the Mangrove nine. I used another image from empire magazine (October 2020) for the background and then used my illustrations of each of the mangrove nine, who where arrested and taken to court in 1970 after being accused of rioting after protesting the harassment by the police at the Notting Hill restaurant The mangrove, a common meeting place for people in the black community living in the area in London. All serious charges against the nine where acquitted after 55 days in court. The case seriously challenged the legitimacy of the judicial process in the UK, and highlighted the question over police brutality and racism. The illustrations where made with black fineliners.
On this sketchbook spread I have concentrated on the legacy of slavery in the city of Liverpool, which was known as the European capital of slavery. I used the sellotape transferring technique to transfer an image i found on the internet of a plan for a slavery ship used in Liverpool during the slave trade. The image shows the layout of the boat and how they were planning to transport the slaves, which as can be seen in the picture, was obviously inhumane and disgraceful.
I also included a map I illustrated from an old picture I found on the internet while doing research. I drew it with fineliners on a surface of masking tape. The map shows that Liverpool was very small originally, while also being known as the slave capital of Europe.
I also included an illustration of the Beatles, one of the most famous and iconic elements of Liverpool as a city. The glamour and excitement of the Beatles, their fame and their music is a massive contrast to the city's dark and shameful past and its involvement in the slave trade. and the reminders in the city today with street names, including 'Penny lane' made famous by the Beatles, referencing slave traders.