IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section B

Abstract

British abolitionists used architectural techniques to depict conditions on the Brookes Slave Ship (1781-1804), creating the iconic drawing “Stowage of the British Slave Ship Brookes Under the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788.” The drawing shows the arrangement of ancestors in an imagined voyage reflecting the Act. Yet, the fine print in the upper right corner states that it is a graphic underrepresentation of what occurred on the ship. (The name Brookes is also incorrect on the drawing – the family name is Brooks). The fine print says the ship was allowed to carry 454 captured ancestors but carried up to 609 on its fourth voyage (the vessel carried 740 on its third voyage), that owners seldom followed the intended space allotted in the 1788 Act, and to carry as many captured ancestors as possible, they would be locked “spoon wise — within the distended legs of the other.” Brookes (Revisited) uses architectural techniques and slave trade databases to tell a more accurate story of the ship’s 5,122 ancestors. In the exhibition, viewers experience context and background information on the trade and the drawing. Folded abstractions called “memory markers” are introduced, representing an ancestor’s head-to-hip, hip-to-knee, and knee-to-foot, with colors paying homage to West African and African diaspora fabrics. A centerpiece of the exhibition are 24” X 36” models of each of the ship’s 11 voyages, with lower, upper, and poop decks demonstrated from accurate databases. The exhibition also features sections of full-scale models of Brookes’ third voyage of 740 ancestors, supported by models and drawings evoking 43 days of the Middle Passage.
The work contributes to the design discourse by supporting global partners and national communities wanting to tell fuller histories and narratives through design—proven with a permanent installation at the Royal Museum’s Greenwich National Maritime Museum.