Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience Navigation link in category Our faculties. Press escape key to return to main menu 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. I was really sensitive to the fact that creating this book was a responsibility, and how I framed the work and the stories was really important. That’s why we have other people’s voices in the mix as well, like academics and practitioners who are doing groundbreaking work in this area to contextualise everything.

Addo’s family set an excellent example to the rest of the congregation, by their attention and good behaviour.Governance, policies & procedures Navigation link in category About. Press escape key to return to main menu John Thomas Smith, Joseph Johnson (1815). Braithwaite reworked the scene with cardboard, a mop, and an Afro print flag. Courtesy of Peter Braithwaite. In the lower portion of this work, we read a scribbled recollection alongside a list of Afro-Caribbean and British foods, and above the faded scrawl is Boyce herself, positioned in front of what looks like floral-patterned wallpaper. Spoon clutched awkwardly in her raised hand, she looks out to us, lips closed, eyes wide, hair tied. The portrait is striking and complex. Boyce has re-created herself in a stylised way. But there is a defiance in her penetrating gaze, as if challenging the viewer. Boyce is dictating the terms of how we view her, how we judge her, how we know her. Student Services Online Navigation link in category Student Services. Press escape key to return to main menu

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. Libraries & Collections Navigation link in category Student Services. Press escape key to return to main menu Taken from the 1823 entry of A sermon [on Matt. xxviii. 19, 20] preached before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel of the Gospel in Foreign Parts at their Anniversary Meeting in the Parish Church of St Mary-le-Bow in 1829. For example, my mixed-race great-times-four-grandmother, Margaret Brathwaite, is recorded as being a “ mulatto”—an obviously offensive term. But putting the word into Google and seeing what turns up, surprisingly, artworks are still labeled with that term. One of the works I recreated is The Barbados Mulatto Girl. That was hugely fascinating to me, to see this image of someone who was like my grandmother. It ’ s this tremendous entry point into a whole history of representation and language, what people were receiving in Europe from a colonial outpost like Barbados. With that specific work of art, we are confronted with conversations about colorism. Colorism was more or less invented in Barbados through the colonial hierarchies that existed based on how people looked, the color of their skin and their racial makeup. Margaret’s husband Addo, my 4x great grandfather, was born in around 1742, probably in Ghana. He was captured, sold and forcibly transported to Barbados where he was enslaved on one of the sugar plantations owned by the Brathwaite family. He started as a field worker, progressed to the status of domestic servant and was freed for “good conduct” at the age of 73. The Brathwaites gave Addo their surname. When I found a copy of Addo’s freedom papers (or manumission papers), it was actually Pinder who signed these off and stamped them – we can assume because of Pinder’s high status in Barbados society at the time.In my exhibition I have included the transcript of a letter written by Margaret. The original is said to believed to be in a vault in a church in St Philip, Barbados. Summer and Winter Programmes Navigation link in category Study. Press escape key to return to main menu

A part of the Getty Challenge is to cleverly utilise objects found in the home – what factors did you consider when choosing your objects? It’s generated stimulating conversations on social media, with people suggesting paintingsI wasn’t aware of,helping me on my mission to keep going. It's a project I'm passionate about, in the same way I'm passionate about performing music that has been marginalised. A lot of the work I do alongsidebeing an opera singeris performing the works of composers that have been banned or suppressed, and haven't had their voices heard or have had their artistic output cut short as a result of censorship.This project feels like it goes hand in hand with that, in some ways it feels like a visual representation of that work. Research Environment Navigation link in category Research & Innovation. Press escape key to return to main menu Student Services Navigation link in category Student Services. Press escape key to return to main menu The Brathwaite family festival has just celebrated its 200th anniversary. Can you tell us more about this?Student's Union Navigation link in category Student Services. Press escape key to return to main menu In the spring of 2020, British opera singer and broadcaster Peter Brathwaite found himself like most everyone else, wandering his home and wondering how exactly he was going to pass the coming days. The baritone, who typically had a busy calendar of performances at major opera houses throughout Europe, watched as, day by day, his commitments, one by one, disappeared from the calendar. When researching my family tree, I noticed that one name kept popping up: the Reverend John Hothersall Pinder, a white plantation chaplain and catechist (a teacher of the principles of Christian religion).

I’ve been singing since I was 7, and my degree gave me the opportunity to also take some music and history modules, which I really enjoyed. It felt like a home from home being in the music department. Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences Navigation link in category Our faculties. Press escape key to return to main menu 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. You can also still join BIPC events and webinars and access one-to-one support. See what's available at the British Library in St Pancras or online and in person via BIPCs in libraries across London.

Ira Aldridge after James Northcote, circa 1826 Private Collection; on loan to the National Portrait Gallery, London