‘Witness’ exhibition in Edinburgh

0
From right to left, the Provost of Edinburgh who opened the exhibition, Nila Joshi, from the Heartstone team, the Provost’s wife and one of the main speakers in the exhibition.

‘Witness’ was produced in 2007 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to commemorate the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade by the United Kingdom. It tells the stories of several relatively unknown men and women, who played a major role in the Abolition movement thus shedding a new light on this period of history.

All the historical engravings, original maps and documents featured in the exhibition have been gathered by Heartstone over several years with the help of collectors from all over the world. A special feature of this exhibition is the presentation of engravings most of which started life as faded A4 or smaller originals restored and enlarged to high quality large format. This is a technique perfected by Heartstone and acknowledged as still being unique to the organisation. This allows a life size ‘environment’ to be created into which audiences can walk giving a closer connection with the reality of the time.

In the spaces, audiences meet storytellers, dancers and historians further bringing the story ‘to life’. As well as the general public, the first presentation of the exhibition in Edinburgh was visited by schoolchildren from across the City who then subsequently undertook projects over the next two terms using a CD version of the exhibition to raise discussion, debate, and produce their own small scale exhibitions to reach out to their local communities.

 

The exhibition centerpiece formed the backdrop to the performance. Whilst much is known about William Wilberforce, much less is known about the individuals Heartstone chose to highlight. Five of the key black abolitionists were featured, who were prominent at the time and their story told both in the exhibition and through the stage performance led by Sitakumari and local young people.
The exhibition included original documents, maps and engravings and was brought to life with the help of historians and experts over the week it was held.
By using large format engravings, specially enlarged and printed for the exhibition, the audience was taken into the world of the slave traders and those they had captured, to feel what it may have been like at the time.
The Playfair Library in the University of Edinburgh was a magnificent setting for this exhibition which opened with artwork created by the children of Edinburgh. It had a capacity audience on all the days it was presented here following which the exhibition toured across Scotland and then into England, providing a new and different light on this story.
error: Content is protected !!