From The Sunshine To The Snow: Remembering my friend - by Louise Garvey

I first met Tryphena on a project that a group from the African - Caribbean community participated in based at Nottingham Castle called From the sunshine to the snow. 

Our friendship developed as we worked together on the project. We discussed our journeys emigrating from the Caribbean to England. Tryphena told me she emigrated to England in 1952 age 19 years of age, whilst I was aged 16 when I emigrated in 1957. The group discussed how we felt leaving our families behind, our first experiences of the British winter, and the smoky chimneys from the endless sea of factories.

I was born in East Portland, Jamaica in village called Scotts Runn, whilst Tryphena was born in the village of Old Works. The style of dress in England was so different from our sunny homeland where we wore bright coloured fashionable clothing, compared to the dark and heavy clothing such as tweed skirts paired with loads of cardigans and jumpers to cope with the colder climate. 

Our friendship grew from that project, and many other community projects we became involved in that challenged, highlighted or portrayed black history. We became involved with many Clubs and Associations that discussed social awareness, education and most importantly for two nurses, health.

Tryphena trained as a nurse gaining registration as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RMN) State Registered Nurse (SRN) and working on the District as a qualified Midwife and she was also the first black Health Visitor to be trained and work in Nottingham.  Tryphena also ran a nursing home for a number of years before retiring. Like wise I also trained as a nurse gaining registration as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RMN) and State Registered Nurse (SRN), and worked as a nurse in the National Health Service for more than 40 years.

It makes me laugh to recall a story that Tryphena told me about her experiences of being the first black midwife to work in Devon. The Devon doctors worried that the mothers would not take to a black midwife, to which she replied “when a women is giving birth she doesn’t care about the skin colour of the midwife, she just wants to get the baby delivered” and that was that.

Like Tryphena, with our love for people, and wanting always to be active and involved helped our friendship grow stronger. We involved ourselves in a variety of health and social care voluntary organisations sharing our skills and life experiences. 

The Legacy Makers project and Sisters Against Cancer were two projects she devoted much of her time and energy to, and similarly with the Standing In This Place project. My friend Tryphena was just a lovely human being, so knowledgeable and caring. We had so many wonderful conversations, I will miss our friendship, our love for one another and our laughter.

Mrs Tryphena Anderson (front row right seated) with Mrs Louise Garvey (standing far right) at the Mapping Memories project.

Thanks to Ethel Anderson (seated front left) for providing the image.

Discover the Legacy Makers with Lisa Robinson

Legacy Makers Legacy Makers is a community history initiative by Bright Ideas Nottingham Bright Ideas Nottingham and the Legacy Makers volunteers. Legacy Makers started out as a one-year pilot project, ‘Slave Trade Legacies’, in 2014. We set out to challenge heritage sites to acknowledge their links to the transatlantic trade of African peoples. Along the way, we renamed the initiative when we agreed that our ancestors were not ‘slaves’. They were human beings, forcibly caught up in the inhuman trade of African peoples.

Over 100 volunteers from the Black community were involved in the activities in the first year. Part of this experimental work involved joining the University of Nottingham’s Global Cotton Connections  Global Cotton Connections: East meets West in the Derbyshire Peak District | An AHRC Connected Communities project - a project led by historical geographer, Dr Sussane Seymour (Dr Susanne to us). Our own lead researcher is historian, Dr Helen Bates (Dr Helen), and together with the volunteers we ensure that this work acknowledges and amplifies the links between cotton workers which included enslaved Africans, white mill workers and indentured Indian labourers. Our work is not Black history. It is about global, shared histories.

25 volunteers lead on Legacy Makers’ work. Most have been involved in the work from the beginning. Other volunteers join us on aspects of the initiative according to their interests. Together we have influenced Newstead Abbey, the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and the Canal and Rivers Trust Nottinghamshire to tell the stories of their links to the transatlantic slavery economy and how the wealth of Britain was created. Our film Blood Sugar is on permanent exhibition at Newstead Abbey. The Visitor Centre at DVMWHS has a mural depicting enslaved Africans, indentured Indian labourers and cotton workers from the industrial midlands. It fully acknowledges Legacy Makers role in co-creating this, as well as interpretation boards and audio materials. Nottingham Rivers and Canals are currently fundraising for a Legacy Makers interpretation board to be installed by the canal in the city centre.

Our work has included projects with other collaborators including Josh Osoro Pickering at Nottingham Castle to evaluate Black history exhibition artefacts. Some of the Legacy Makers were featured in their Nottingham’s In Your Face projection project where 100 Nottingham people’s images were projected onto the walls of the castle. Other institutions include Wilberforce Museum to trial and evaluate their handling collection, Boughton House to retrieve evaluate their Black history archives and, more recently, the Paul Mellon Centre where we presented our research on Colonel Thomas Wildman and introduced the work of the Legacy Makers "Blood Sugar": Screening & Panel Discussion

The volunteers help shape our work and lead on the challenging conversations we have with UK visitor sites. They are the key decision-makers and influencers in the directions the work takes us. Due to the passion and commitment, nine years after launching we persist with our endeavours and continue to work in meaningful partnership with others.

Legacy Makers is a hive of creativity and we have worked with creatives such as, Lisa Jackson (mon0lisa Productions), Cara Thompson, Kim Thompson, Michelle Hubbard, Dr Shawn Sobers and international artist Hetain Patel. Together we have co-created exhibitions, interpretation boards, films, Films | Legacy Makers, poetry and textile work, run community and public events, and developed our own zine (in collaboration with Nottingham Poetry Festival) and learning resources for schools. Legacy Makers. We even have our own gospel choir and co-created our own commissioned song, ‘Wishing Fields’, with musician, Freddie Kofi.

With the invaluable guidance of Dr Helen and Dr Sussane, Legacy Makers embarked on a lifelong adventure of research, learning about our ancestors and their rich histories. We have visited sites such as the Liverpool Slavery Museum, Porchester Castle and Bristol for a trail teaching us about that city’s links to the transatlantic trade. Researcher, Dr James Dawkins has also been part of our research family. Dr James previously worked with University College London’s Legacies of British Slave Ownership and with the University of Nottingham and Nottingham City Council on local connections to the transatlantic trade and we have been grateful that he continues to share his knowledge and understanding with us.

The volunteers’ have been recognised by Heritage Lottery, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the University of Nottingham and the Heritage Lottery for their outstanding contribution to heritage work in the East Midlands/UK. They were shortlisted for the AHRC’s Research in Film awards, won the university’s award for long term volunteering and shortlisted twice for their research impact awards.   In the past Legacy Makers volunteers have been featured on BBC’s Songs of Praise BBC One - Songs of Praise, Newstead Abbey and ITV’s A Place in the Country. - A Place In The Country: Part 2 - Slave trade legacies Today, we are proud to be fully acknowledged as instigators of the Standing in this Place statue.

A group from the Legacy Makers Family decided to get involved in Standing in the Place at the outset. We were delighted by the idea of a statue which told of the links between cotton workers – an idea which came out of conversations between Dr Helen and sculptor, Rachel Carter. Rachel generously volunteered with us to research the names of millworkers during the COVID lockdowns. The mill workers of Darley Abbey biographies project. Dr Helen felt that a statue should also include an enslaved African woman. The Standing in this Place Statue is not the first major arts partnership we have been involved in. A statue of Legacy Maker, Veronica Barnes is Nottingham’s first statue of a Black woman after Dr Helen nominated her for  Put Her Forward | Ancestors Voices Veronica became one of 25 women to have statues made of them in recognition that the UK has few statues women. Legacy Makers also inspired international artist, Hetain Patel to create ‘Cotton Labour’, an installation which has ordinary people standing in for their enslaved, indentured and cotton mill ancestors 'Cotton Labour' by Hetain Patel.

Legacy Makers has then, inspired the idea for and impetus of Standing in this Place – a trailblazing and necessary endeavour to honour the memory of our ancestors, their sacrifices and their contributions. Quite simply, the Standing in this Place statue would not be realised without the will and vision of the Legacy Makers.

 Written by Lisa Robinson - Legacy Maker and Director of Bright Ideas Nottingham

Paul Pryce shares his explorations into Black History

My name is Paul Pryce, I was born in Sheffield, England, in the 1960s. As a child growing up in 1960s and 70s, during my history lessons at School, many questions often passed through my mind, such as: “what were Black people doing before “slavery”? Up to that point, in my development, I was given the impression, that African/Black people had contributed nothing to world civilization, scientific and technological advancement. In the case of the European/white people, a complete contrast was presented, it was that of, exemplary!

The good news, during the 1980s, I had the privilege of coming across various books, such as: Malcolm X on Afro American History and Black Power by Stokely Carmichael, which blew mind! I appeared to read those books in double quick time. I also came across material within Ebony Magazine, (which is produced in the USA). The material that particularly left me overcome with emotions, was reading about Black Scientists, who supposedly never existed, according to the misrepresentation a decade or so earlier. Some of the scientists include, (from 19th C onwards): Lewis Howard Lattimer, Elijah McCoy, Garrett Morgan etc.

I reached a stage, after reading the above works, gaining a brief insight and wanting to learn more, especially, the period before Slavery. What were Black people doing before Slavery? How can I gain access to this information? To my astonishment, during the official opening of the Sheffield and District African Caribbean Association, (S.A.D.A.C.C.A), in June 1986, I saw an elder, standing at the bottom of the stairs, greeting people as they entered the building. I said to myself, “this elder will guide me with my learning!” Those initial thoughts turned out to be absolutely ‘spot on’. A few days later, from introducing myself and discussing what I had learned up to that point, my books, videos, and DVD collection greatly increased over the decades. I also attended conferences and workshops, up and down the country, hence, the process of unlearning and relearning begun. Some of the wonderful works, includes: The African Origin of Civilization by Cheik Anta Diop, Blacks in Science Ancient and Modern edited by Ivan Van Sertima. From the scientific evidence, it is very clear that civilization, scientific and technological advancement began in Ancient Africa thousands of years before there was an Ancient Greece, and indeed Europe. Knowledge was taken to all corners of the world by the Ancient Africans.

In 1990, I moved to Nottingham to study, B.A Public Administration and after graduating, settled here. Along with my degree course, I have continued with this growth, intellectually, mentally, spiritually and emotionally by attending African History courses and Education of the Black Child conferences. As part of the process, field studies were built in, which included, visits to the British Museum, York and the Enslavement Museum in Liverpool. I have facilitated workshops to young people and adults, presenting aspects of African History, (The missing pages of World History, Dr John Henrik Clarke)

“We have been written out of the respectable commentary of World History”. Dr John Henrik Clarke, African-American Scholar

What Influenced me to Participate in the Legacy Makers Project?

I was invited to a Legacy Makers, (formerly Slave Trade Legacy), meeting by Lisa Robinson in 2016, which was held at the Castle Museum. From attending that initial meeting, I have continued to support the project, as a volunteer, because I am impressed with the work that has been carried out by the volunteers, Lisa, Helen and Susanne, in encouraging the Heritage sites to change the misrepresentation within their narrative. Namely, omitting to recognise that the wealth created to construct structures such as, Newstead Abbey, Wollaton Hall etc, was off the backs of Enslaved Africans. A couple of brilliant works, that I purchased in the 1980s, are still relevant, especially to this project: Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams and How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney.

I joined the Legacy Makers, based on my learning over the previous decades and my willingness to make a positive contribution. It was interesting to note the movement away from using certain terminology and replacing them with more appropriate ones. For examples, Enslaved rather than ‘Slave’, Enslavement rather than ‘Slavery’, Enslaver rather than ‘Slave Master’ etc. Hence, Legacy Makers, “We must get the language right”, as stated by Martin Luther King in the 1960s. The interesting thing, was that during the late 80s and early 90s, the use of language was a thread that ran through the core of the teachings I received.

“To Educate a Man is to Educate an Individual, To Educate a Woman is to Educate and Liberate a Nation” Malcolm X made reference to this quote

Standing in this Place

At the point when Legacy Makers and Rachel Carter began to work in partnership, I was encouraged to support this project, (of course by Rachel), Standing in this Place. Wonderful progress is being made, since its inception and very exciting times are ahead! My research, demonstrates that in Ancient Kemet, (Egypt), north east Africa, African women were revered, whilst the Ancient European women in contract were reduced to the lowest denominator. African women were on an equal level to the man and ran their own businesses. The European women were chaperoned by the man. (See Black Women in Antiquity Edited by Ivan Van Sertima).

A point highlighted in the above works, is that when the Ancient European Women, first entered Kemet and witnessed how Ancient African women were living, they began to rebel against the European men. Here we are thinking that women’s lib’ began in recent years, (my emphasis).

From my sixth sense, one day we will be truly free and liberated from oppression and subjugation, which will be a great example to emulate for generations to come.

The Roaring Whisper by Louise Garvey

Listen to Louise Garvey read a poem from her latest publication Voices from a Village, available now from our online gift shop.

Why is the sculpture called 'Standing In This Place’?

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.

Bramley’s hardware shop c.1900 Ilkeston, since demolished

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, 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 roots, the places they once stood becomes much more difficult through the mass displacement of African people during the Trans Atlantic slave trade which saw millions of Africans forcibly taken and sold into slavery.

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

Heritage Garden remembers Tom Oliver by Ethel Anderson

On the 75th anniversary of the Windrush, family members of Tom Oliver unveiled a stone dedicated to his life at the Heritage plot that bears his name on the St Anns allotments where he gardened for many years.

His niece Ethel Anderson explains “It gives me great pleasure being here with family and friends to celebrate and unveil this work of art on this plot. A stone sculpture to acknowledge, my uncle Thomas George Oliver’s contribution to the development of this Heritage Site with his original hat perched on it. Today is also a chance to highlight contributions from other Caribbeans who have migrated to this country. History and heritage are very important we learn from our past to build the future.”

The allotment is a great place to visit. Beautiful scenery, lovely volunteers and more importantly it’s good for wellbeing. There is something magical about being outdoors. I happened to visit the allotment one day and met Heritage Plot manager Joe, we talked for a while and I pitched a few thoughts and ideas how this site could be improved and create learning spaces for children and visitors using the Artifacts that can be seen around the site. Joe was encouraged by this and ask if I would like to be a volunteer; I said yes.

Ethel adds, “Theres an old saying ‘Sow a thought you reap an act, Sow an act you reap a habit, Sow a habit you reap a Character, Sow a Character you reap a destiny’. Today this is it, as we unveil the stone sculpture dedicated to Tom Oliver, developed from a thought that came out of a project by Mrs Rachel Carter Standing In This Place, who inspires conversations that lead us here.”

“Thanks to Renewal Trust for allowing the Family to use the space to do this.” Mrs Ethel Anderson, Legacy Maker

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Images curtsy of Ethel Anderson and the Oliver family

Pride in Broadmarsh

If you’re from Nottingham you’ll know the Broadmarsh area of Nottingham well. It’s a gateway to the city and doesn’t currently represent the amazing people of Nottingham or their history. At the moment it is a building site in need of love.

This community-driven sculpture is going to be placed in the green heart of the new Broad Marsh redevelopment. A space where people from Nottingham can come, relax and connect with each other, and will be one of the first areas new visitors to the city will see.

Whether you are: a resident of Nottingham who wants to help make Broadmarsh a place of pride for the city, a woman who wants to challenge the 5%, or you want to support us to highlight the rich cultural heritage of the area we need your support.

Rachel Carter

New statue will highlight connections between East Midlands cotton mills and slavery

A new statue will highlight the contributions and connections between white mill workers in the East Midlands and black enslaved women who grew the raw cotton supplies in the Americas. 

The life-size, bronze ‘Standing In This Place’ statue will be placed in Nottingham’s redeveloped Broadmarsh area in summer 2024. It will highlight themes of sorrow, strength and resilience as it portrays the historical links between East Midlands cotton mills in the late 18th to mid 19th century and the raw cotton supplies that were sourced from estates that used enslaved labour.  

Both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire were home to cotton spinning mills in this period, feeding cotton thread into Nottingham's hosiery and lace industries. Several historical cotton mills still exist in Nottingham and there was once a huge cotton mill complex along the River Leen, although this has not survived. Broadmarsh was also once populated with textile workers and dye works   The Derwent Valley Mills in Derbyshire, meanwhile, has been designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO . Recognised as the birthplace of the modern industrial factory system, its mills became the model for factories throughout the world. 

Plans for the statue will be displayed at a new exhibition opening in Derby this weekend. The ‘Standing In This Place’ exhibition has been co-created by sculptor Rachel Carter, in partnership with the Legacy Makers community group. 

Sculptor, Rachel Carter explains: “This project began with an interest in discovering more about my female ancestors, who found themselves working in a cotton mill as children. In 2020, I met members of the Legacy Makers group, who have been researching their African ancestors that were enslaved, trafficked and forced to labour in cotton fields. Together, we have worked on the idea of a sculpture that acknowledges the undeniable connection of these histories and this exhibition feels like we are one step closer to realising our vision.” 

Isalyn Martin from the Legacy Makers group says “I believe women are essential to a thriving world. The Standing In This Place statue means so much to me as the statue symbolises Nottingham's female ancestors, both black and white, and their contribution to the wealth of the cotton industry. As a Nottingham resident, to see it it in the city will be very emotional and a joy to share with others.” 

Louise Garvey, also part of the Legacy Makers group, adds: “The sculpture and exhibition are important representations of our cultural heritage, as it is important that people know where they come from as it informs how they interact with society and the world around them and how society and the world around them interacts with them.” 

Until recently, there has been a reluctance or disinterest in explaining the East Midlands cotton industry’s links to slavery. However, in 2014, the Midlands-based Legacy Makers community group decided to explore and expose this hidden, or erased, history. They wanted to reveal how, behind each piece of spun thread, a high price had been paid in the pain and suffering of the enslaved Africans who had been forcibly trafficked to labour on cotton plantations in European colonies in the Caribbean, South America and the United States of America. Working with Dr Susanne Seymour, Deputy Director at the University of Nottingham’s Institute for the Study of Slavery, the partners addressed gaps in both the historical understanding, and public communication of, the Derbyshire cotton mills and their links to slavery. Dr Seymour has worked through the collaborative Global Cotton Connections project from 2014, to trace the raw cotton supplies that were brought to the Derwent Valley mills from around the globe and to interpret with descendant communities of colour the colonial and enslavement connections of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

Dr Seymour explains: “While the Derwent Valley mill owners have typically been regarded as opponents of slavery our team’s Global Cotton Connections research, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, has revealed just how reliant they were on supplies of raw cotton grown by enslaved people of African descent in the Americas, from Brazil and the Caribbean to the southern states of America. Women formed a vital and major part of this enslaved workforce. Our academic and community collaboration involving volunteers of African descent from the Legacy Makers group has worked to change the public interpretation of the Derwent Valley Mills’ relationship with enslavement, showing where raw cotton supplies originated from and their production through the brutal system of transatlantic enslavement.” 

The Standing In This Place exhibition is free to all visitors. It will open to the public at Derby’s Museum of Making from 14th July and it will run until 7th January 2024. 

 Press Release 10th July 2023 Nottingham University

Challenge the 5%

Did you know less than 5% of statues in the UK represent women! We want to change that, with not one but two statues of women.

In 2016 Caroline Criado-Perez researched how many statues were of women out of the 826 across the UK and commented “That leaves us with 25 statues of historical, non-royal women (one of whom is a ghost and only there because she’s looking for the spirit of her murdered husband). Meanwhile, there are 43 statues of men called John.”

Through collaborating with the black-led community group the Legacy Makers, we have been questioning who is and who should be remembered. While also being aware that less than 5% of statues in the UK portray non-royal women.

2024 will see a life-size bronze statue representing a white mill worker/lace maker, and a black enslaved woman uprooted to the Americas, installed in the heart of the rejuvenated Broadmarsh area in Nottingham City Centre. The sculpture will be complemented with a resource pack to encourage further learning and conversations.

This ambitious project, exhibitions and new sculpture will give representation to the under-represented and give voice and recognition to the contributions of thousands of unnamed women connected through cotton and helps to ‘challenge the 5%’.

RSA Event: Standing in this place: diversity and public art

Standing in this place: diversity and public art

An evening of discussions led by Royal Society for the Arts Fellows

As the city contemplates proposals for a new statue in the Broad Marsh area, we held a stimulating evening of learning, conversation and connection on the 27 Mar 2023 at Nottingham Playhouse.

Historically many of our statues have been erected by leading civic organisations, businesses and public subscription. They celebrate and commemorate events and people that have helped shape our cities and nations. But did you know only 5% of public statues in the UK represent women and even fewer women of colour? What does their absence signify?

During the event we heard from:

• Dr James Dawkins, and what he discovered about public statues and plaques in Nottingham.

• The story of Rachel Carter’s sculpture, connecting local women textile workers with enslaved women working in the cotton fields of America and the Caribbean.

• Legacy Makers – A HLF funded project by Bright Ideas Nottingham which encouraged local people to take part in a community history project exploring; what life was like for the residents of Darley Abbey in the nineteenth century, the village’s links to their enslaved African ancestors and connections to the wealth of Darley Abbey through the cotton trade.

Nottingham City’s Commemorative Landscape: Transatlantic Slavery and Female Memorialisation

Click below to read Excerpts from Dr James Dawkins talk on 27th March 2023

• About Dr James Dawkins

  Doctor James Dawkins is a specialist in British Transatlantic Slavery.

  He is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Lancaster where he is developing a digital register of British slave-traders.

  James worked at the University of Nottingham from 2019 to 2021 where he led several projects that examined the city’s connections to the transatlantic economy in enslaved African people.

  The most pertinent being his comprehensive review of statues and plaques across Nottingham that represent institutions and individuals linked to the slavery business.

  Dr Dawkins is a member of the distinguished Legacies of British Slave-ownership project at University College London.

  He also sits on a number of expert advisory panels for community and scholarly projects such as the ‘Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted’ and ‘Colonialism, Slavery, Trade, Reparations: Remedying the ‘Past’?’.

  James is the author of numerous peer reviewed works, his most recent being Nottingham’s Universities and their Connections to the Transatlantic Slave Economy, which is slated for publication by the University of Nottingham in 2023.

• Nottingham City’s Commemorative Landscape: Transatlantic Slavery

  In early June, 2020, shortly after Colston’s toppling, around 130 Labour councils up and down Britain announced that they would be reviewing their local statues, plaques, street names and buildings in order to identify those with connections to the transatlantic economy in enslaved African people.

  Nottingham City Council was amongst the first of these local councils to step forward and make this announcement, after which they approached several colleagues of mine, including Dr Susanne Seymour and me, who were working at the University of Nottingham, to undertake this review.

  Our study was conducted over a period of 3 months and produced a number of interesting findings. Over 40 statues, plaques, and street names, were identified that represent individuals who had links to the transatlantic economy and African enslavement.

  These included initiators of the trade in enslaved African people such as Charles II who was a key character in the creation of the Royal African Company in 1660; the owners of enslaved African people, namely as Robert Smith, more commonly known as Lord Carrington; abolitionists such as Fergus O’Connor; the processors and manufacturers of raw materials imported into the country, which were grown and cultivated by enslaved African people on plantations in the Americas, like Richard Arkwright and Samuel Morley; formerly enslaved people such as George Africanus; and the descendants of enslaved African people who’ve made important contributions to Nottingham City, like as Eric Irons and Ms Veronica Barnes.

  This report hasn’t been officially published yet, but you should be able to obtain a copy of it through Nottingham City Council’s culture and libraries department.

• National Female Memorialisation

  So as I’m sure you’ve noticed, only 1 out of those 8 names I just mentioned was of a female… and that’s Ms Veronica Barnes.

  Across Nottingham City approximately 48 statues of named people exist – that’s to say statues named after real people.

  Of this 48, just 12% (equivalent to 6) represent females, whilst the other 88% (42) memorialise males.

  This is slightly higher than the national proportion, where around 5% (80) of statues across the UK celebrate named females, whilst 95% (422) honour named males.

  And indeed, the global picture is even more bleak, with the Statues for Equality project estimating that women only make up 2-3% of public statues.

• Local Female Memorialisation

  Although Nottingham’s honouring of females is slightly higher than the national and global rates, the proportion of women commemorated is still far from equal to the number of men.

  Moreover, the figurines of Nottingham’s 6 females, with the exclusion of Queen Victoria, are nearly all situated inside of public buildings.

  For example, the statue of Ms Barnes sits inside Nottinghamshire Archives, and the statue of Natasha Coates (a Nottingham prominent gymnast) is located inside the William Booth Museum.

  They’re both also miniature in size, only standing about 1 foot or so tall, giving them low public visibility, which reduces awareness of their important contributions to Nottingham.

  Moreover, when ‘race’ is included as a category alongside biological ‘sex’, only one of Nottingham’s 6 female statues represents a person of ethnic minority heritage and that’s the figure of Ms Barnes.

  This highlights the under-representation of female ethnic minorities in Nottingham.

  Furthermore, the statue of Ms Veronica was only created in 2018, meaning that Black women had no visible public acknowledgment in the form of a statue despite over 60 years of residence in Nottingham (when they arrived en-mass as part of the Windrush generation) and given almost 200 years of their provisions to the city in terms of the cotton they begrudgingly picked whilst enslaved in the Americas, which was imported into Nottingham and used to fuel its growing textile industry, between 1698 and 1888.

• Standing In This Place

  These facts make the creation of the life-size Standing in the Place statue designed by Rachel and the Legacy Makers, along with its proposed public location in the middle of the City’s new Broad Marsh centre, an important, relevant, and significant commemorative icon for acknowledging and paying tribute to the labour and ingenuity of working class women here, and enslaved women of African heritage in Britain’s former Caribbean colonies (along with the wider Americas), whose labour helped turn Nottingham into the vibrant and developed city it is today.

  The Standing in the Place statue’s imminent instalment places Nottingham at the forefront of historic female recognition; and indeed, it makes Nottingham a regional, national and global leader in acknowledging the role females and enslaved women played in the growth of British civic society.

• Royal Society of the Arts

  The RSA recently supported an event for the ‘Standing In This Place’ project, working with the Legacy Makers group and sculptor Rachel Carter.

  We were delighted to support the evening. The underrepresentation of women, and people of colour, in public art matters, and the proposal for a new public sculpture in Broad Marsh, visible to everyone arriving in Nottingham by train, would be a hugely positive way to address this.

  The proposed sculpture is a thing of beauty. The contribution of enslaved people and women textile workers to the prosperity of the East Midlands is largely under-recognised.

  If it goes ahead, this sculpture will be a wonderful way to celebrate their contribution.

  Yours faithfully, Lianna Etkind Fellowship and Area Manager (Central)

Questions ?

During the event we asked our guests to answer any of the four questions we wanted to discuss, here are their unedited responses:

What does the art in our public spaces tell us about the stories we choose to remember and pass on?

• That white men rule

• Tells us who we value

• Some art doesn’t tell a story - its representing a theme eg Sky Mirror

• Educates us and should show who inspires us

• Recognises contribution to Nottingham public life

• Where is Ada Lovelace square?

• Carry on our history

Why are less than 5% of statues of women and even fewer represent women of colour?

• We are undervalued

• Women should give with no recognition

• His story!! We live in a patriarchy

• Need to understand the process towards getting a statue in place, influential women needed

• Patriarchy

• Our contributions are not recognised

• History has been written by white men … until now!

• Men think and still do think they are superior

• Assumes they are irrelevant

• Most of the studies are done by men. Women are not valued whatever they do be their domestic or other

What does their absence signify?

• That we are not important

• Outdated perspectives that should be challenged rather than perpetuated

• We are invisible

• Our stories are not as important

• No equality

• We’ve still got work to do

• Women not valued

• We are of no value

• Change is not liked we need to keep educating

• We are of less value

• Invisibility of women and as women if we don’t stand up against these male behaviours it will continue

• Nottingham City is not ambitious to be creative in 2023

What (and whose) stories remain hidden; absent from public view?

• Refugees

• Those that graft and do the real work

• Emily Campbell

• Mary Seacole

• The oppressed

• People without the vote, people without power

• Minority groups and poorer people

• Owners of gay clubs in 50s/60s/70s when they were so clandestine

• Minority groups, women, people who are made to feel invisible

• No role models for women/ women of colour

• Minorities, women, different races

• The majority of the people, workers, wives, need to celebrate all humanity. Women especially women of colour are always invisible

Creative Writing

Over the course of three weekly workshops participants where guided by Lead Writer Panya Banjoko and supporting writer Deborah Tyler Bennet to create a series of poetry pieces.

We explored family members or ancestors that worked within the textile trade in the cotton mills and factories of the mid 19th century and ancestors that were enslaved as part of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

We paid an interest in exploring the deep connection between working class women living in the slums of Nottingham and enslaved women in the colonial plantations to create our poems that have been collated and edited by Panya and are now available as a printed collection of poems.

Phase 1 delivery 2022

Rachel Carter

Braiding Workshops

Over the first phase of the project, Rachel has been offering free braiding workshops to encourage the local community to create braids that will become part of the new sculpture for Nottingham.

Kumihimo - Participants had an introduction to the Japanese braiding technique of Kumihimo using a traditional wooden Marudai. During these workshops they were guided through a range of techniques and movements to produce two types of braid.

Fill Gap Braiding Kits - Over 120 Fill Gap Braiding Kits were created and posted out to Women living in Nottinghamshire. Asked to learn with Rachel via an online tutorial, the women could then select a handful of braids to return. These community braids will become part of the new sculpture.

Phase 1 delivery 2022

Rachel Carter

Radical Routes magazine

Radical Routes

A Publication Exploring the Pilgrim Heritage of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire

Radical Routes sifts lightly through the myth, mistruths, and omissions enshrined in the Pilgrim story, setting it against contemporary experiences of people migrating to the UK.

The story of the Mayflower is the story of migration, and part of the project was to re-interpret this story under a modern lens, looking at the echoes of that journey in the stories of those who have come to the region to settle.

Read the summer editions of Radical Routes magazine and Rachel’s article, click on the reader or visit Writing East Midlands to read the collection.

Phase 1 delivery

Rachel Carter

Kumihimo workshops with Rachel Carter

Over the first phase of the project, Rachel has been offering free braiding workshops to encourage the local community to create braids that will become part of the new sculpture for Nottingham.

Kumihimo - Participants had an introduction to the Japanese braiding technique of Kumihimo using a traditional wooden Marudai. During these workshops they were guided through a range of techniques and movements to produce two types of braid.

Phase 1 delivery

Rachel Carter

Young Persons Podcast Creative Break

Our creative break commissions where open to young people living in and around the city of Nottingham to delve into the project pages and history and respond to the narrative in their own unique way. Their audio submissions could take the form of spoken word, poetry, a short story, a song or soundscape.

Take a listen artist Rachel Carter and poet Cara Thompson discussing some of the creative breaks that have been used in the new podcast series sharing the history and narrative of this project.

Young people where led in a creative writing workshop by poet Cara Thompson at the National Justice Museum to get them started with their commissions.

Young Persons Podcast Creative Break is supported by Confetti, Writing East Midlands, New Art Exchange and City Arts.

Phase 1 delivery

Rachel Carter

Fill Gap Braiding with the Legacy Makers and Rachel Carter

Over the first phase of the project, Rachel has been offering free braiding workshops to encourage the local community to create braids that will become part of the new sculpture for Nottingham.

Fill Gap Braiding Kits - Over 120 Fill Gap Braiding Kits were created and posted out to Women living in Nottinghamshire. Asked to learn with Rachel via an online tutorial, the women could then select a handful of braids to return. These community braids will become part of the new sculpture.

Dance & Movement - Women 50+

The local community were invited to come and join local activist and dance artist Deane McQueen in series of movement workshop sessions aimed at women over the age of 50 years of age living in and around the city of Nottingham.

During the weekly sessions they where invited to come together to imagine, watch, think, share and move together to tell the project narrative of the cotton mill workers and the enslaved cotton pickers. From this group of local women we selected two to volunteer to be the models for the new bronze sculpture where they will be immortalised in bronze as part of the new sculpture.

The dance group worked with a fantastic collective of community stitchers who created long skirts for the dancers to experience and then worked together to create historical costumes for the two models.

“I want to extend congratulations to every member of the dance group. Your significant range of interpersonal skills made you a joy to work with as a group, each contribution building into a collective work ethic. So warm and generous. The result speaks for itself. Rachel is clearly thrilled and you should be. Fantastic concept realised by fantastic women. The digital bronze statue is breathtaking! ”

— Deane McQueen

Phase 1 delivery

Rachel Carter

Mini Figures Commission

A group of ten stitchers where invited to attend a series of workshops, talks and museum visits to delve into the history of the two women represented in this project.

Each participant received two wooden mini figures and was asked to design and create an historic costume for the figures reflecting dress from the mid nineteenth century, the finished design for the two live models was designed referencing some of the historical details.

Four stitchers along with the artist, models, film makers and historians spent the day at the Steve Russell Studios in Stroud becoming part of the activity to digitally capture two live models in historic clothing.

Phase 1 delivery

Rachel Carter