Lancaster’s Facing the Past project moved to Morecambe recently for the latest in a series of community workshops.
More Music, which is a member of the partnership behind the project commemorating Lancaster’s slave trade past, hosted the workshop at The Hothouse.
Funded by Arts Council England, Facing The Past aims to reflect, reveal and redress omissions in the way Lancaster has so far commemorated its role in the transatlantic slave trade. Other partners involved are Lancaster Priory, the Judges Lodgings, Lancaster Black History and arts, heritage and community organisations.
The Morecambe workshop was led by Venessa Scott, a public artist renowned for painting one of the UK’s tallest murals in Manchester and who has also appeared on the popular CBBC programme, Colours.
She demonstrated how the stories and characters of enslaved people from history could be transformed into illustrative collage artwork.
The series of community workshops was launched at Lancaster Priory and that’s also where it ended when acclaimed artist, Nayna Lad led a session to create black portraits with mixed media collage. Participants were asked to imagine the faces of enslaved Africans through layering materials and adorning the portraits with patterns and feathers.
Nayna, an experienced art and design teacher who has worked in Africa and the UK, has also been involved with the Facing The Past school workshops taking place over recent months at the Judges Lodgings which is looking a further ways to continue this work.
Facing The Past is a collaborative project between Lancaster Priory Church, the Judges Lodgings museum, Lancaster Black History and arts, heritage and community organisations including More Music.
Facing The Past, Phase 1 will focus on young people, young musicians and community members in Morecambe and a cross-section of the Lancaster community including the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community which is 4.4% of the local population.
Lancaster Priory Commissioning Group is steering Facing The Past. It is an active member of Lancaster Arts Partnership and has hosted many Light Up Lancaster events as well as its own cultural programme including the annual Festival of Song.
The Judges Lodgings museum, run by Lancashire County Council, commissioned Lubaina Himid’s Swallow Hard in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. She went on to win the Turner Prize and Swallow Hard was part of the Turner Prize show. The museum has also hosted many cultural events and participated in Light Up Lancaster.
Black History Lancaster is a grassroots community group fighting racism through education. Its current research project with local people traces the links that prominent local families had with the triangular transatlantic slave trade.
• For more information on the Facing The Past community workshops, visit: www.lancashire.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums/facing-the-past/