The title 'Standing In This Place' has its origins in my quest to find female ancestors. My family is deeply rooted in the Midlands and I found my working-class ancestors mainly working in the textile and coal industries.

When trying to find places and connections to my female ancestors, I often discover that no trace remains. When looking at illiterate female ancestors, it’s hard to find any information about who they were other than; they were born, they were married, they had children and they died.

Newspapers in the National Archives have been very useful to help me understand the lives of some of these women. For example, one such story I discovered about a female lacemaker was that aged 19 she was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct at Weekday Cross, Nottingham. When I visit the Lace Market area of Nottingham, in particularly weekday cross, I can stand in the place where my female ancestors once stood.

Being able to stand where my ancestors once stood, was the idea behind the sculptures title. When I began working with the black-led community group Legacy Makers, I discovered the difficulties they face when tracing ancestors of African origins. The ability to discover information about their ancestors, their roots, the places they once stood becomes much more difficult.

When thinking about the sculpture that we are creating and it's intended placement in the Broad Marsh new public park, it feels a very fitting location as census data for the 18th & 19th centuries show many female textile workers living in the Broad Marsh and Narrow Marsh areas, you can clearly see many workers, immigrants and paupers all living side-by-side in close conditions.

The two women featured in the sculpture are our connection to our ancestors, we tread in their footsteps, we stand in this place.

Rachel Carter

Sculptor Rachel Carter works from The Garden Studio on the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire border, creating large scale sculpture for the garden and smaller intimate sculptures for the home using the lost wax technique to create bronze works.

“Throughout my professional practice, since graduating with a BA Hons in Applied Arts, I have found myself driven by process and material in sculpture. For the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing in 2020 I was commissioned to create a new series of work for the Pilgrim Roots districts. The ‘Pilgrim Woman’ sculptures combined my hand woven work alongside community weaving which was cast in bronze, a plus life size pilgrim stands in the Danum Gallery, Doncaster, a smaller version on the the banks of the River Trent in Gainsborough and the third Pilgrim Sculpture is in Boston, Lincolnshire.”

“Many of my commissions are underpinned by my love of history and ancestry, and I feel honoured to be able to represent our shared and complex histories within sculpture. Looking at my own ancestry often provides inspiration for new work as I add to the long legacy of weavers, knotters and makers that stretch back over 350 years of the Midlands industrial past.”

Find out more by visiting the artists website

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