The Sentinel

Internatio­nal artist’s work on show as city marks abolition of the slave trade

Major event taking place in Potteries for the first time

A MAJOR event to remember the slave trade and its abolition is taking place in Stoke-on-trent for the first time.

The Internatio­nal Day for The

Remembranc­e of The Slave Trade and Its Abolition is part of a national programme called Time, Space and Empire.

Port cities such as Bristol, Liverpool and London have been commemorat­ing that period in Britain’s history for 25 years.

Now the event will launch in Stoke-on-trent with the unveiling of a new ceramic artwork, The Keeper of All The Secrets, by multimedia artist Jacqueline Bishop, at the V&A Wedgwood Collection at the World of Wedgwood in Barlaston on Saturday

The installati­on explores the ‘market woman’, a recognisab­le yet overlooked figure in Caribbean society since the time of slavery.

The Keeper of All The Secrets tea service is a collection of bone china plates, tableware, and textiles that pay homage to the market woman.

Jacqueline, in collaborat­ion with Stokeon-trent-based ceramist Emma Price, has created a unique artwork featuring diverse influences. She said: “I’m delighted to be collaborat­ing with Culture& and the V&A Wedgwood on this new work which focuses on making visible the invisible, in making tangible the ephemeral, in speaking aloud the unspoken, and in voicing voicelessn­ess.”

The events programme kicks off tonight at the V&A Wedgwood Collection Welcome Space.

It features an evening of free Caribbean cuisine and the first look at

The Keeper of All The Secrets.

At 7 pm, there will be an interactiv­e dinner party concept developed by Lois Weaver. The installati­on runs until September 6 and is open daily (10am-5pm.)

Events on Saturday include Clay, Craft and Chat, a drop-in craft and clay young people’s workshop inspired by the plants decorating The Keeper of All The Secrets, at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery from 11am-5pm.

Also at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, there will be poetry reading with Q&A and a discussion on the position of black women in Caribbean society explored through poetry and ceramics.

Jacqueline, left, will read from her first collection of poems, Fauna, which was published in 2006 and which uses Caribbean flowers as metaphors to explore the lives of enslaved women.

Poet Gabriella Gay said she is excited to work on ‘such an important programme and event’. She added: “It is an exciting step for an inland area like Staffordsh­ire to explore its colonial histories and legacies of abolition and enslavemen­t through this artwork.”

The events will continue on August 31, as part of Future Fest, and on September 6.