Lost Soul VI, 2009, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Museum, Liverpool, UK
15 February 2024
The Carving Out Truths display, includes the artwork Lost Soul VI (2009) from the International Slavery Museum’s collection.
“The disruption of placing a black figure amidst the alabaster ‘whiteness’ of the other sculptures immediately creates a discourse and interest to question their correlation and placement. The black figure, just a child, in costume and at play, has an unforeseen power to displace the supremacy of these mature and revered figures. Figureheads which have continuously been part of an exclusive, racist colonial narrative not taught to us in history books.”
Liverpool’s sculpture collection has a long association with slavery, colonialism and empire. Its foundation is closely linked to the city’s institutions, and the merchants and bankers who financed them. Much of their wealth was made from slavery, its economies and the growth of the British Empire. Carving Out Truths confronts these histories in partnership with young people from the community and makes them more visible within the Walker’s historic spaces.
Lost Soul VI, 2009, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Museum, Liverpool, UK
15 February 2024
The Carving Out Truths display, includes the artwork Lost Soul VI (2009) from the International Slavery Museum’s collection.
“The disruption of placing a black figure amidst the alabaster ‘whiteness’ of the other sculptures immediately creates a discourse and interest to question their correlation and placement. The black figure, just a child, in costume and at play, has an unforeseen power to displace the supremacy of these mature and revered figures. Figureheads which have continuously been part of an exclusive, racist colonial narrative not taught to us in history books.”
Liverpool’s sculpture collection has a long association with slavery, colonialism and empire. Its foundation is closely linked to the city’s institutions, and the merchants and bankers who financed them. Much of their wealth was made from slavery, its economies and the growth of the British Empire. Carving Out Truths confronts these histories in partnership with young people from the community and makes them more visible within the Walker’s historic spaces.