2007 is the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. To commemorate the anniversary Lancashire Museums has been working on the Abolished? project. As part of this project, artists Lubaina Himid and Sue Flowers have been commissioned to create individual installations for the Judges’ Lodgings and Maritime Museum. The exhibitions opened on July 14th and run until the 31st October.
Swallow Hard – The Lancaster Dinner Service
By Lubaina Himid
The Lancaster Dinner Service is made up of some 100 or so patterned plates, jugs and tureens mostly old and used, sometimes chipped and cracked, sometimes ornate but rarely plain, from the shops and markets of Lancaster, Preston and Whitehaven. All overpainted with images relecting Lancasters involvement in the Slave Trade.It remembers slave servants, sugary food, mahogany furniture, greedy families, tobacco and cotton fabrics but then mixes them with British wild flowers, elegant architecture and African patterns.
” I have painted pages from account books, elegant houses, patterns from Mali, from Nigeria, from Ghana and all along the West African coast, these patterns like the paintings of buildings and vistas, boats and documents all cut across or weave in and out of the original patterns found on the old ceramics. On every tureen the faces of the unknown and unnamed black slave servants ask to be remembered.On every item it’s possible to see large areas of the original design as the new painting emerges or unsuccessfully attempts to hide the identity of the old.” Lubaina Himid
For details of opening hours etc see: The Abolition 200 website.