City to confront its
A permanent new piece of public art reflecting Edinburgh’s part in the Caribbean slave trade and inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement is to be commissioned for the city.
The body charged with promoting Edinburgh’s World Heritage Site is to spearhead efforts to create the new work for the city’s New Town, in recognition of its many links to slavery.
Temporary works of art inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement have appeared all over Edinburgh in recent years as part of a Scotland-wide “mural trail”. The project to create a permanent artwork will be part of a shakeup by Edinburgh World Heritage into how the city’s past is promoted, taught and commemorated.
Plans for the work of art were revealed by the charity’s new director, Christina Sinclair, who has pledged to ensure its work reaches far more people in BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) communities in future.
Two years ago the charity staged an exhibition in the Tron Kirk which highlighted the role of the slave trade in funding the city’s rapid development in the 18th century.
Months later it hosted a lecture by Scotland’s first black professor, Geoff Palmer, on how wealthy Scots owned
more slaves, more plantations and had a higher share of the transatlantic trade in plantation goods such as tobacco and sugar than England or most other European countries.
Edinburgh World Heritage was also involved in talks with Professor Palmer and the city council over the proposed new plaque which is expected to be added to the Melville Monument in St Andrew Square to reflect the fact that Henry Dundas, whose statue sits on top of the plinth, was said to have been a key figure in trying to block the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
Now it has plans to commission and lead fundraising efforts for a major new work of art, although the form it will take and the exact location are being kept under wraps. Ms Sinclair said: “One of the things we’re going to be focusing on in future is enhancing our inclusive engagement, in our project work and other areas, so that it resonates with more diverse audiences. We want that to be more meaningful and more consistent.
“The questions and discussions in recent months are hugely important. I’m sure many people really embrace a better understanding of the city’s history. It’s not something to shy away from.
“It’s important that we keep the momentum going, that we take advantage of positive opportunities to ensure that is represented in the city. The form this takes has to come from grassroots engagement.
“We believe it’s really important to acknowledge the varied history of Edinburgh – both positive and negative.
“We don’t support the calls for the removal of the statue of Henry Dundas. We believe it is important to acknowledge the past and acknowledge our developed understanding of it. We think it’s more important to retain the monument and provide new interpretation.”
Asked why there had been very little recognition of Edinburgh’s history of slave trading until recently, Ms Sinclair added: “I think it’s a sign of moving towards a more progressive society – people are questioning and challenging more now.”
In Edinburgh’s Festival Square is a statue called African Woman and Child. Erected in 1986, it was designed to symbolise the ANC’S stand against racist oppression by South Africa’s then apartheid regime. It is a simple but powerful work of art that serves as a reminder that its victims were ordinary human beings just like us.
But it does pose a question. Why we would raise a monument against such tyranny on the other side of the world, while almost overlooking Scotland’s past role in the even greater evil of slavery? Now, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Edinburgh World Heritage is planning to create a permanent artwork that will recognise the part played by the city in the Caribbean slave trade and the profits made from generation upon generation of the most abject human misery, torture and death.
This should help us to confront uncomfortable truths about this country’s often mythologised history but also remind us of what can happen when we allow ourselves to be deluded by prejudice and bigotry and forget that each and every human being is, at a fundamental level, worthy of equal respect.