Exhibition:Welsh Wool, Slavery and Identity

Artist Lucille Junkere explores the role of Welsh plains in suppressing and denigrating the African identity of enslaved people, which was reinforced through textiles before colonialism.  She uses masks and other artefacts to represent the Akan, Ashanti, Yorùbá, Igbo, Ibibio, Éwé and Bantu heritage of the people enslaved to work on Britain’s most lucrative plantation, Jamaica. Welsh flannel, wool remnants from blankets and throws, cotton, and Caribbean and West African natural dyes, including indigo, logwood, fustic, brazilwood and Kola nut, represent the traditional cultural cloth denied during slavery. 

This exhibition is part of Perspective(s) a collaborative project acknowledging culturally and ethnically diverse communities’ histories, perspectives, experiences, and stories.

Lucille Junkere is a research-led visual artist whose work confronts Britain’s involvement in transatlantic chattel slavery and its continuing legacies of racism and the destruction of indigenous African knowledge systems. 

The Exhibition has been created in partnership with the Arts Council of Wales and sponsored by the Welsh Government.