For families or culture vultures looking for a day well-spent this Black History Month, The World Reimagined is bringing the 10 globes from its Bristol trail into one place for the first time to create a unique, educational experience.
Located on College Green from 14 – 31 October 2022, the groundbreaking free experience will explore themes ranging from Mother Africa to Still We Rise and Expanding Soul with an enormous range of interpretations and creative styles. The sculptures are an invitation for people, families, businesses, and communities to talk together about how they understand their history; how the past—particularly the UK’s relationship with the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans—shapes the future; and how to act for social change to make racial justice a reality.
Bristol’s sculpture trail has been created by the artists Emma Blake Morsi, Godfried Donkor, BS51, Oshii Rowan, Bandele Iyapo, Adam Grose, Felix FLX Braun, Jasmine Thompson, 3dom, Michele Curtis.
Previously placed as a walkable trail across Bristol from Royal Fort Gardens to St Paul’s, the Globes will now come together on College Green for the end of Black History Month to allow visitors a unique opportunity to view and enjoy all 10 large scale artworks at once.
As people visit the Globes, they will also be able to explore an online collection of short, accessible stories that bring this history and its modern day impacts to life. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, this unique collection features contributions from historians, museums and heritage organisations, including Professor Kehinde Andrews, the British Library and Know Your Caribbean.
Supported by Bristol City Council and Bristol City Centre BID, the Globes will be on College Green over the half term holidays, including Stolen Legacy: The Rebirth of a Nation by BS51, sponsored by Bristol City Centre BID. For parents looking to introduce their children with the history and cause of racial justice, The World Reimagined also offers free online resources for artistic and creative activities they can do at home to start the conversation. The resources build on its Learning Programme that has been delivered in more than 200 schools over the last year, which saw many schools in Bristol create their own smaller Globe sculptures.
With community organisations across Bristol also hosting their own events and activities as part of the programme, The World Reimagined is one of the largest art education projects for racial justice the UK has ever seen. Bringing together art, education, activism and community, it captures a unique moment in time to examine a shared history, helping audiences to better understand what it means to be British.
Michelle Gayle, co-founder of The World Reimagined, said, “It has been so exciting to see how people have responded to the globe trails. Over half term, we want to make it as easy as possible for people to feel the collective power of these incredible, thought-provoking and inspiring works of art. They invite us to understand it is not ‘Black history’ – it’s all of our history. And all of us have a role to play in the work of making racial justice a reality. So we hope you will visit the Globes when they are all together on College Green.”