* RESEARCH
* RECORD
* DESCRIBE
* SCULPT
* PERFORM
* RE-ENACT
A commissioned project to produce a piece of work for the annual commemoration weekend held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum remembering the role of the slave trades in Liverpool's dock and city development.
The project also brought three artists of African descent together to explore new ways of making art performance.
(See Kitchen Sink)
In 1919, race riots break out around the Dock areas of Liverpool. Once united in the First World War effort, local ship workers began to refuse to work alongside African Caribbean men. Protests at the unfair treatment meet with escalating violence. One terrible night, Charles Wooton a ship's fireman, is chased down to the docks by over 300 men, where, jumping into the dark waters to escape, he is instead stoned to death from the quayside.
Now, Cecelia Wooton has three of the stones that killed her partner - what should she do with them?
see installation video documentation here
The film and live performance explore the dilemma - what would you do in retaliation to racial violence, and uses the historical incident at the Docks (where the Museum is located) to engage the audience in the debate.
"We had a good-sized audience for the last item on the programme, and a day after the official ceremonies. Comments were Very positive, lots of 'that was good', said in a way that made us realise we had made something new and different."