Driving Forward (with slave-trader thrown in free).
Whether you want to prompt a conversation or simply demonstrate your support for Black Lives Matter, these drawings capture a key event that helped shift our approach to history. The original drawings are A3, available framed in natural wood frames. Prints are available in a wide range of sizes, framed or unframed. With each purchase I make a donation (which exceeds any profit) to local Bristol charity Cargo Classroom (see below)
Black Lives Matter protester Jen Reid, standing on the plinth of the dethroned Edward Colston statue. Donation to local Bristol charity Cargo Classroom (see below)
The Colston print is free with any purchase of “Going Forward”
During the Bristol Black Lives Matter Protest on Sunday 7th June 2020, protestors pulled the statue of slave trader Edward Colston off its pedestal, and dumped it in the harbourside waters.
In the aftermath, Jen Reid was one of many protesters who stood on the pedestal and raised a Black Power Salute. A resin cast of a 3d scan of Jen was temporarily installed on the plinth (now removed) by artist Marc Quinn, in collaboration with Jen.
I feel that both Jen standing on the plinth, and the statue tied ready for removal, are fitting subjects to record in a drawing. But as fleeting moments, neither were photographed in a way that fully represented their impact on me. So I used various footage to reconstruct and render them both in graphite pencil.
The picture of Jen is available as a hand signed print, framed or unframed. To maximise the impact of the pencil image, frames are solid wood (painted white or grey) with professionally cut acid-free mount card. Each print is hand signed.
When you order the picture of Jen, you will have the option of a free unframed copy of the Edward Colston print. You can choose to add on the cost of framing. The sculpture is pictured with an accurate rendering (with reference to footage) of the way the ropes were tied round it, as it was pulled down. It is also offered as a free download (no purchase required). Not so much as a bonus, but as an image having value only as a historic record. Paper copies will be untitled, and hand signed.
For each purchase made I will donate to local Bristol charity Cargo Classroom - a charity dedicated to facilitating and improving the teaching of Black history in the UK, particularly the transatlantic slave trade.