Rediscovering Black Portraiture

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Pinder’s name surfaced a third time in my research as Margaret and Addo named one of their sons after him - Aaron Pinder Brathwaite, who went on to become a school teacher. Extracts from Reports of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1824. British Online Archives Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care Navigation link in category Our faculties. Press escape key to return to main menu Professional & Support Services Navigation link in category About. Press escape key to return to main menu Addo’s family set an excellent example to the rest of the congregation, by their attention and good behaviour.

Alongside this project he also intensified his research into his dual heritage Barbadian roots, uncovering a wealth of detail about his enslaved and enslaver ancestors and their history, including an uprising of enslaved people in 1816 and songs of resistance they sang.Sometimes I just think: well, I’ll do it myself’: Peter Braithwaite. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian Things really came full circle when I was last in Newcastle, performing at Theatre Royal with Opera North. One of my core memories from University is seeing Opera North perform ‘La traviata’ on the very same stage. My experience of the cultural scene in Newcastle really shaped who I am today as an artist and performer. When I was a student, the Baltic and Sage had only recently opened. It was really exciting to have a contemporary art venue as big as that, and as diverse, on my doorstep. And I was fortunate enough to perform at Sage Gateshead as part of the University choir (a performance which made me sure that singing was what I wanted to do as a career!) Margaret Brathwaite’s father, the enslaver Miles Brathwaite II (my 5x great grandfather) was a patron of the arts and even invited the late 18th c/ early 19th c portrait artist Ralph Stennet to operate a studio from one of the Brathwaite sugar estates. There is a portrait of Miles Brathwaite II dating from around this time, but none of my ancestors of colour. My approach is based on how I work as a performer and the different layers of research that go into creating a performance. My concerns are: Who am I speaking to? What dialogue can I create by putting on this performance? What am I trying to say? And how can I make the work a platform for education? I’m learning new things all the time by looking at these images, and I hope people are finding it a useful way into lesser-known histories.

It ’ s easy to say there is a natural progression from invisibility to visibility, but there are little things that disturb the progression. It isn ’ t linear. In this series, you stumble across figures, whether in the Tudor age or later in the 18th century, who were painted because they had managed to surprise and challenge the stereotypes. I’d like to think that the project feels like an accessible route into discovering marginalised art, especially because it combines humour with history. The goal is always to help people to access a different, difficult history that maybe they would not have necessarily accessed before.

Advance Praise

Everything is from my house. I’ve collected a lot of junk over the years. Some things were made. At the very start of the project, I was reluctant to make things, but I gradually became more amenable as the costumes became more complicated. I also used the portraits as a platform for objects that have existed in my family for generations.

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