 |
Birkenhead Priory |
As the granddaughter of a woman who was part of the generation of West Indians who answered Britain's call for workers, this globe’s title, Weh Yuh From? Weh Yuh A Go?, seeks to understand what my ancestor and others like her went through, in their migration to Britain.
This globe is a personal response to reflecting thoughtfully and broadly on the British Caribbean history which pays homage to the Windrush generation, instilling a more profound sense of empowerment to what our forebears achieved in paving the way for the future generations, including my own. Having these discussions around the Windrush brings further details into their stories which can be passed onto future generations.
Maya Angelou wrote "You can't know where you are going until you know where you have been." This has been shortened in a Caribbean dialect which has created the title.
The portrait paintings over the collage pay tribute to the Black womxn as they are overlooked when discussing our history, dealing with the triple oppression of racism, sexism, and classism. They represent the grandmother, mother, aunties, sisters, daughters, and others dear to us.
The collage of photos was sourced from archives, and the internet and collected from the Leeds and Liverpool Caribbean community. They seek to highlight the Black British experience and culture containing photos from the 1950s to 1990s, covering the arrival, daily life, cultural events, and the hostile environment.
A special thank you to all who sent in their family photographs to be used to make this globe come alive, and especially to Max Farrar who has photographed the Leeds Chapeltown community since the 1970s.
Jioni Warner is an artist born in Leeds. She is currently in the final year of her BA at Staffordshire University. From a young age, Warner developed a passion for art. She describes herself as a mixed media painter but has experimented with lots of materials over the years.
As the granddaughter of a woman who was part of the generation of West Indians who answered Britain's call for workers, this globe’s title, Weh Yuh From? Weh Yuh A Go?, seeks to understand what my ancestor and others like her went through, in their migration to Britain.
This globe is a personal response to reflecting thoughtfully and broadly on the British Caribbean history which pays homage to the Windrush generation, instilling a more profound sense of empowerment to what our forebears achieved in paving the way for the future generations, including my own. Having these discussions around the Windrush brings further details into their stories which can be passed onto future generations.
Maya Angelou wrote "You can't know where you are going until you know where you have been." This has been shortened in a Caribbean dialect which has created the title.
The portrait paintings over the collage pay tribute to the Black womxn as they are overlooked when discussing our history, dealing with the triple oppression of racism, sexism, and classism. They represent the grandmother, mother, aunties, sisters, daughters, and others dear to us.
The collage of photos was sourced from archives, and the internet and collected from the Leeds and Liverpool Caribbean community. They seek to highlight the Black British experience and culture containing photos from the 1950s to 1990s, covering the arrival, daily life, cultural events, and the hostile environment.
A special thank you to all who sent in their family photographs to be used to make this globe come alive, and especially to Max Farrar who has photographed the Leeds Chapeltown community since the 1970s.
Jioni Warner is an artist born in Leeds. She is currently in the final year of her BA at Staffordshire University. From a young age, Warner developed a passion for art. She describes herself as a mixed media painter but has experimented with lots of materials over the years.
|
Marine Gardens, Sefton |
This globe design is painted to appear as though it is entirely made of complex rock formations. It represents the lasting legacy of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans, with its chasms, cracks and crevices. These imperfections represent the scarring damage not just on the surface, but much deeper and often hidden.
This globe opens up conversation around the deep-rooted damage, negative consequences and entrenched prejudices present today both in the UK and across the world. These metaphorical cracks have been gradually altered or refilled, but the results are rarely permanent. They remain fragile. Cracks can be sealed but vestiges remain, creating weakness for a future of harmony and balance. There is unease that is so deeply embedded within this discussion and this globe aims to encourage us all to face the uncomfortable truths of the echoes of damage in the present.
The repair of the cracks and crevices has always been and will always be possible through the work of humanity, knowledge, education and empathy and – most importantly – the role of the younger generation in voicing the argument and working together to repair the damage.
The rock should always exist and never be totally smooth, as without the vestiges of damage the celebration of our future holds far less poignancy. It is the gradual alteration of the surface that will define our successes and our aim to see the world reimagined.
There is no quick fix, but as long as discussions are open, little steps can be taken and progress made. This is our shared history, not just black history, but it is an historical trauma with black lives at the centre and it is this trauma that is represented in my globe. It is a trauma that must be remembered, severed and celebrated in equal measure. Not an easy task.
Amy is a Fine Artist specialising in painting and drawing, with a PhD from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design. Her research is central to her continuing painting practice through the interpretation of Spectromorphology within painting. Amy’s PhD provided a redefined understanding of painting with an emphasis on applied energy, gesture and movement, concentrating on the definition of morphology as shaping through time. Her artwork involves large-scale oil paintings and she has completed projects for Wild in Art, including ‘Go Wild Gorillas’ in Jersey, 3 elephants for the ‘Big Trunk Trail’ in Luton, ‘Worcester Big Parade’, ‘A Dog’s Trail’ in Cardiff, ‘Go Go Discover’ in Norwich, 2 sculptures for ‘The Big Hoot’ in Ipswich, ‘A Big Splash’ in the Isle of Man, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ in Knowsley, ‘Hares of Hampshire’ and ‘Snowdogs Support Life, Kirklees’.
This globe design is painted to appear as though it is entirely made of complex rock formations. It represents the lasting legacy of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans, with its chasms, cracks and crevices. These imperfections represent the scarring damage not just on the surface, but much deeper and often hidden.
This globe opens up conversation around the deep-rooted damage, negative consequences and entrenched prejudices present today both in the UK and across the world. These metaphorical cracks have been gradually altered or refilled, but the results are rarely permanent. They remain fragile. Cracks can be sealed but vestiges remain, creating weakness for a future of harmony and balance. There is unease that is so deeply embedded within this discussion and this globe aims to encourage us all to face the uncomfortable truths of the echoes of damage in the present.
The repair of the cracks and crevices has always been and will always be possible through the work of humanity, knowledge, education and empathy and – most importantly – the role of the younger generation in voicing the argument and working together to repair the damage.
The rock should always exist and never be totally smooth, as without the vestiges of damage the celebration of our future holds far less poignancy. It is the gradual alteration of the surface that will define our successes and our aim to see the world reimagined.
There is no quick fix, but as long as discussions are open, little steps can be taken and progress made. This is our shared history, not just black history, but it is an historical trauma with black lives at the centre and it is this trauma that is represented in my globe. It is a trauma that must be remembered, severed and celebrated in equal measure. Not an easy task.
Amy is a Fine Artist specialising in painting and drawing, with a PhD from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design. Her research is central to her continuing painting practice through the interpretation of Spectromorphology within painting. Amy’s PhD provided a redefined understanding of painting with an emphasis on applied energy, gesture and movement, concentrating on the definition of morphology as shaping through time. Her artwork involves large-scale oil paintings and she has completed projects for Wild in Art, including ‘Go Wild Gorillas’ in Jersey, 3 elephants for the ‘Big Trunk Trail’ in Luton, ‘Worcester Big Parade’, ‘A Dog’s Trail’ in Cardiff, ‘Go Go Discover’ in Norwich, 2 sculptures for ‘The Big Hoot’ in Ipswich, ‘A Big Splash’ in the Isle of Man, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ in Knowsley, ‘Hares of Hampshire’ and ‘Snowdogs Support Life, Kirklees’.
|
World of Glass Gardens, St Helen's (PLEASE NOT LIMITED OPENING HOURS) |
Bryony Benge-Abbott is a British Trinidadian artist working in painting, wild drawing walks, textiles, installation and street art. Combining visual arts with a 13 year background producing science and social history exhibitions, most recently establishing and leading the exhibitions programme at the UK’s largest lab, The Francis Crick Institute, Bryony works interdisciplinarily to shine a light on narratives about our relationship to the natural world that are under-told or overlooked. Much of her public art involves collaborating with scientists and the public to explore nature connectedness. In 2019 her commitment to public engagement through street art was acknowledged by the Mayor of London, who highlighted Bryony as a ‘hidden credit to the city’ as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations. In the studio, her artist research is interested in ways to transform the way in which we relate to nature, considering alternative perspectives and potential for change that lie in the entangled space where art, science and spirituality meet.
Bryony Benge-Abbott is a British Trinidadian artist working in painting, wild drawing walks, textiles, installation and street art. Combining visual arts with a 13 year background producing science and social history exhibitions, most recently establishing and leading the exhibitions programme at the UK’s largest lab, The Francis Crick Institute, Bryony works interdisciplinarily to shine a light on narratives about our relationship to the natural world that are under-told or overlooked. Much of her public art involves collaborating with scientists and the public to explore nature connectedness. In 2019 her commitment to public engagement through street art was acknowledged by the Mayor of London, who highlighted Bryony as a ‘hidden credit to the city’ as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations. In the studio, her artist research is interested in ways to transform the way in which we relate to nature, considering alternative perspectives and potential for change that lie in the entangled space where art, science and spirituality meet.
|
Court Hey Park, Knowsley |
For most Black people from Africa and the diaspora, a long strand of natural hair forms a helix – like the curved path of a spiral stairway. Yet this helix of hair also can evoke those profound structures which shape the patterns of life. At the microscopic scale is the double helix of DNA — two molecular strands entwined around one another like lovers. But, on a cosmic scale, the helix could also represent the world’s path through space. Whilst Earth’s orbit of the sun is a slight ellipse, the sun itself revolves around the galaxy, which means that the real path of our planet is not a flat ellipse at all.
Relative to the universe, Earth dances a gloriously curly, kinky helix – indeed, a gargantuan fractal set of ‘meta-helices’ as galactic clusters fall into one another through the twinkling blackness. Which brings us back to hair. Having observed the twisting paths of constellations and polymers, could we consider our hair as a metaphor for our long – often torturous – historical journeys that might seem to go around in circles, but which in truth perform an open-ended, infinitely extended looping motion towards a destination about which we know precious little? Could the helix of Black hair represent an odyssey that can never, will never – must never – return and recirculate through the ‘same places’, such as the evil auction block or whipping post.
Finally, it is said that all the infinitesimal subatomic particles which constitute our reality can be described by what physicists and mathematicians call ‘string theory’. And how are we to imagine those hypothetical strings of energy? Never at rest, flat, straight, or dead. But, constantly in a flux of oscillating vibration through multiple incomprehensible dimensions. Curvaceous, flickering, helices. The whirled, reimagined through the painting of Black hair.
Kimathi Donkor’s art re-imagines mythic, legendary, historical and everyday encounters across Africa and its global Diasporas, principally in painting and drawing. Prominent exhibitions include War Inna Babylon at the ICA, London 2021, the Diaspora Pavilion (57th Venice Biennale, 2017) and the 29th São Paulo Biennial (Brazil, 2010). His awards, residencies and commissions include the 2011 Derek Hill Painting Scholarship for The British School at Rome.
For most Black people from Africa and the diaspora, a long strand of natural hair forms a helix – like the curved path of a spiral stairway. Yet this helix of hair also can evoke those profound structures which shape the patterns of life. At the microscopic scale is the double helix of DNA — two molecular strands entwined around one another like lovers. But, on a cosmic scale, the helix could also represent the world’s path through space. Whilst Earth’s orbit of the sun is a slight ellipse, the sun itself revolves around the galaxy, which means that the real path of our planet is not a flat ellipse at all.
Relative to the universe, Earth dances a gloriously curly, kinky helix – indeed, a gargantuan fractal set of ‘meta-helices’ as galactic clusters fall into one another through the twinkling blackness. Which brings us back to hair. Having observed the twisting paths of constellations and polymers, could we consider our hair as a metaphor for our long – often torturous – historical journeys that might seem to go around in circles, but which in truth perform an open-ended, infinitely extended looping motion towards a destination about which we know precious little? Could the helix of Black hair represent an odyssey that can never, will never – must never – return and recirculate through the ‘same places’, such as the evil auction block or whipping post.
Finally, it is said that all the infinitesimal subatomic particles which constitute our reality can be described by what physicists and mathematicians call ‘string theory’. And how are we to imagine those hypothetical strings of energy? Never at rest, flat, straight, or dead. But, constantly in a flux of oscillating vibration through multiple incomprehensible dimensions. Curvaceous, flickering, helices. The whirled, reimagined through the painting of Black hair.
Kimathi Donkor’s art re-imagines mythic, legendary, historical and everyday encounters across Africa and its global Diasporas, principally in painting and drawing. Prominent exhibitions include War Inna Babylon at the ICA, London 2021, the Diaspora Pavilion (57th Venice Biennale, 2017) and the 29th São Paulo Biennial (Brazil, 2010). His awards, residencies and commissions include the 2011 Derek Hill Painting Scholarship for The British School at Rome.
|
Catalyst Museum, Widnes |
Liverpool based illustrator and artist. Sumuyya Khader is an artist working in a multiplicity of ways within the sector. Working with major institutions, projects, publishers, social enterprises and artist-led groups. Her practice is a combination of illustration, painting & print works that predominantly explore place and identity. Recent projects have included establishing Granby Press, a community print shop built as a resource for the local community to print zines, newsletters, flyers and artworks. Her first solo show ‘Always Black, Never Blue’ opened at Bluecoat Liverpool in October 2021 and her next show is part of a group exhibition Refractive Pool: Contemporary Painting in Liverpool opening at Walker Art Gallery in April 2022. In October 2020, Khader curated Celebrating Black Liverpool Artists, an outdoor exhibition on the facade of the Bluecoat as part of Liverpool City Council’s Without Walls programme, which celebrated the work of 5 Liverpool artists and highlighted the lack of visibility for the work of Black women in the city.
Liverpool based illustrator and artist. Sumuyya Khader is an artist working in a multiplicity of ways within the sector. Working with major institutions, projects, publishers, social enterprises and artist-led groups. Her practice is a combination of illustration, painting & print works that predominantly explore place and identity. Recent projects have included establishing Granby Press, a community print shop built as a resource for the local community to print zines, newsletters, flyers and artworks. Her first solo show ‘Always Black, Never Blue’ opened at Bluecoat Liverpool in October 2021 and her next show is part of a group exhibition Refractive Pool: Contemporary Painting in Liverpool opening at Walker Art Gallery in April 2022. In October 2020, Khader curated Celebrating Black Liverpool Artists, an outdoor exhibition on the facade of the Bluecoat as part of Liverpool City Council’s Without Walls programme, which celebrated the work of 5 Liverpool artists and highlighted the lack of visibility for the work of Black women in the city.
Login or Register to track the Globes you visit for chance to win a FREE copy of The World Reimagined book!
Find Out More
Artist Globe |
Learning Globe |
Points of Interest |