The English Heritage Outreach Department and the Sparkbrook African and Caribbean Women’s Development Initiative (SCAWDI) are proud to present

Interwoven Freedom: Abolitionist Women in Birmingham

Textile bag by Gwenneth Jones. Hand cut textile image represents the triangular route of the slave trade. The first scene is representative of an African Village, the second depicts the Middle Passage and the final scene is the Caribbean. An arts and research project to commemorate the 2007 Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Act.

Interwoven Freedom enabled a group of women to explore slavery and abolition in Birmingham. They visited archives, exhibitions and historic sites with links to slavery and worked with creative writer Ava Ming and textile artist Karina Thompson. Taking inspiration from Birmingham’s abolitionist women and Black enslaved women who campaigned for the end of slavery – they have interwoven their own personal response with the story of freedom.
 
Drawing on the tradition of abolitionist women who created and distributed workbags filled with anti-slavery manifestos, the participants have written their own manifestos which mix historical facts with vivid fictional stories and powerful poems. They have made workbags from fair trade cotton and African cloth. Woven into their bags are integrated references from their past and personal histories, images of slave ships, photographs and Jamaican and Ghanaian flags.

The exhibition of their work is accompanied by interpretive panels, a book and audio commentaries.

Tour Dates & Venues

1-28 April 2008
Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery
Holyhead Road, Wednesbury WS10 7DF
Tel: 0121 556 0683
Open Tues-Fri 1000-1630, Sat 1400-1630

1-19 May 2008
St Paul’s Church
St Paul’s Square, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B3 1QZ
Tel: 0121 236 7858
Open Mon-Fri 1015-1615