Reframing Picton Exhibition at Cardiff Museum

 Today, like my last blog I explored further into Cardiff Museum and began to look into the other exhibitions they had presenting in the museum and the "Reframing Picton" exhibition definitely was one of my favourites and really engaged me. Also, after speaking to one of the staff members at the museum they really wanted this exhibition to gain the attention of the younger generation to engage, inform and get them to learn more about history and the story behind Picton. I hope that after giving my thoughts and providing such an in-depth view of this exhibition and the art within it, that i will inspire members of the younger generation to attend this exhibition and learn the history of Sir George Picton. 

This piece of art was created to represent the victims of Picton's brutal regime, three named victims was Thisbe, Present and Luisa Calderon. This installation was designed to transform the torture of Picton's victims into dance, changing their scream into a song and turn it into an area of play and praise all combined to show a rise of positivity and rejoice despite confinement and oppression. This piece of work representing so much ancestry is used to honour fractured traditions even though there is so much trauma living amongst their DNA. This piece is aimed to show the people living with such trauma coursing through their veins are now here to "re-claim power from the devastation of their lives" (Laku Neg, 2022). This entire piece recognises the victims who are both named and un-named and have created a space for those who suffered and gives them this space to play, and to experience the childhood they had taken away from them. The spirited piece was designed to show the story of a 14-year-old girl who was stuck in the slave trade and was hung as shown in the photo below... Also, this piece was completely made by women, women who wanted to represent their past and the poor women and children who were treated terribly and put through such trauma and despair. What really appealed to me about this work was how it was created by all women and how the piece is trying to represent the people who suffered through the slave trade and the history/story this piece tells. Such a well thought out and well-designed piece that in every area and aspect immerses you into the story of this young girl yet, rather than feeling sad and feeling as though the trauma is being portrayed it feels more so like a celebration a dance. That is exactly how the piece was designed to make people feel as they walk through this installation. Their choice to use magazine/old paper to create loops that they've weaved through the bamboo wall that you walk through as you enter the installation that I believe pays tribute to the African tribes that were mistreated, captured and forced into slavery. I believe that this paid tribute to the African tribes because a traditional method used by African's is creating beads using paper such as old magazines or newspapers easily found recycled paper typically that I believe is represented in a way in this installation. 

"Spirited", 2022, Laku Neg

[Adeola Dewis, Mary-Anne Roberts, Miguela Gonzalez with Cindy Ward] 

After walking through the "Spirited" installation you step into a blacked out room where the only light in the room comes from the screen featuring the "Wound is a Portal" video and the lit up pictures of the Black African people and their tattoos on specific areas of their bodies. The video documentary featured in this room, that is made to inform and teach people how to process pain that came during "chaos". The main representation of the pain in this piece is through the tattoos and how the tattoos work as a portal to their soul. The documentary talks about the unity they gained through their pain and how pain is always part of a collective. The members of the African tribe belong to the land, the land is a guide to them, the map to their nature, because the land will out live them all. In the documentary they reveal the power of their shared stories, it tells about a male who says that the tattoo makes him feel apart. The main story through the documentary is about the unity of the tattoos that the shared pain of their people has brought to them and how they all had a dream. As part of the land they tell stories of the water, how the water is a portal. The water and the land holds their bodies until they pass on and it shall carry their spirits. They draw a line in the sand, "never enough to take, to have", "where is the boundary between need and greed". The documentary emphasises the  power of pain, the unity, the greed that has caused such torture for them as a tribe and where greed is unnecessary. Personally, I think that this installation was really empowering and portrayed such a beautiful and capturing story line that I didn't know much about yet felt captivated listening to it and being in the room, feeling indulged in the African culture. 

'The Wound is a Portal' by Gesiye

This section is called "The Reframing Picton Exhibition" where it was created to give an in-depth insights into the story of the African tribes and show the male who was at the heart of such torture and pain creating. The "Reframing Picton Exhibition" focused not on the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans but on the focus of the victims as people, who were taken from their homes and forced into enslavement. During the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans it reached the total number of enslaved Africans traded over the centuries is not fully known although, some sources estimated numbers over the centuries and were estimated to be as high as 20 million. During the trial against Picton, the torture of Luisa (featured in the Spirited installation) was considered to be illegal due to her being classified as being free. Throughout this exhibition it tries to highlight the true conditions of the society during the time of Picton's mistreatment such as the British legal system created laws that gave legal permissions and justifications for atrocities inflicted on enslaved people, that involved torture. As apart of this exhibition it contained a 1806 publication that contained the complete transcript of the trial that was based on the noted taken in short-hand definitive proceedings. In this exhibition the engraving from the 1806 publication on Thomas Picton's trial is featured, this engraving is used to show the method of torture used. This type of torture was known as "picketing" named after Picton himself, but the British public would sometimes call it "Picton-ing". In the year 1806 Picton was then put on trial in London, the trial took place because Picton ordered the illegal torture of Luisa Calderón. Luisa was a 14-year-old free girl of mixed heritage (who the spirited piece was based around) who was suspected of being an accomplice to theft in 1801. They used torture as a way to try and extract a confession from Luisa, which she never gave. Throughout the British Empire the trial was seen as a sensational legal and media affair throughout the British Empire. Picton's defence was based around that judicial torture was "a common and accepted legal practice in the Spanish WestIndies". Even though, torture may have been -practiced in Spanish Trinidad, it was not sanctioned by any laws. After a single day of hearings and only five minutes of deliberation, Picton was found guilty by the jury. I think that this exhibition was empowering and the way they had the spirited installation followed by the wound is a portal exhibition and the Picton exhibition, worked well in showing a kind of journey. As I walked through each room it felt like I was being taken on a journey through what people like Luisa had been put through, it shown a powerful moving piece of what torture they was being put through such as the hanging of Luisa (Spirited). Then went on to the African tribe members talking about their pain and unity, how they coped with such pain. Expressing their powerful story. Followed by the conviction of Picton showing his mistreatment to the African slaves and the justice being served for the tribes. Overall, it's just so empowering, eye opening and captivating it really captured me and took me through their journey opening my eyes to an aspect of history I wouldn't have necessarily explored or even known that much about. 

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