Exhibition shows how Bristol school children deal with statue of slave trader 

An exhibition has launched showcasing how young people explore and deal with colonial history tied to towns and cities.

A Monumental Task is the culmination of six months of work via a theater-in-education project from Bristol Old Vic, aiming to create conversation around Bristol’s heritage.

In it, students from six Bristol schools were tasked with creating their own city and developing characters to populate it.

But two sessions in, pupils were told the that their city’s founder profited from the transatlantic slave trade, with a commemorative statue remaining in the town.

The school children then had to decide the fate of the slavers’ statues by collating facts from historical figures known to have benefited from the slave economy and who have monuments in varying towns, cities, and villages in the UK.

A Monumental Task aims to engage young people and their wider communities in discussion around shared colonial history – photo: Bristol Old Vic

Using role-play, debate and teamwork, Bristol Brunel Academy, Bristol Metropolitan Academy, Cotham School, Bristol Cathedral Choir School, Bedminster Down and Oasis Academy John Williams came up with creative different ways to deal with the sculpture.

In one town, Deluxeville, the town council decided the statue of their founder, Reginald J Delux, should be ritualistically burned near the local cult’s shrine. In its place, the ashes would be buried and a tree planted where the statue once stood, serving as a memorial to the victims of the transonic slave trade.

Another school decided to sanction graffiti on the Reginald J Boblington Gold’s statue, although following pushback it was decided the statue would then be cleaned and given to Gold’s descendant to be displayed in a private garden.

In The One Weird Town in the East, the townspeople pulled down the statue of Reginald J Weird to be exhibited in a museum and replaced by a state of Rosa Parks, to celebrate those who have dedicated their lives campaigning for racial equality.

Ansari said the children engaged differently with the project across the six schools – photo: Betty Woolerton

Abu Ansari, one of A Monumental Task’s creators, said: “It’s been amazing to see this project come to fruition. Us three creators of the project have been working on it since the George Floyd protest and seeing it develop from an idea all the way to now where students are feeding back to us is really incredible.

Ansari added: “The students have learnt about putting themselves in other people’s shoes and giving perspective, being empowered to use their voce and speak their opinions, working as a group for the common good, and using theatre to work on a history project.”

Director of engagement Lucy Hunt said the project “aims to put the debate in their hands, as they learn about the Transatlantic Slave Trade from the perspective of towns across the country grappling with the legacy of their colonial past”.

“Bristol Old Vic is itself a monument to Bristol’s colonial history and we are trying to recognise and understand the impact of our beginnings.

“We are trying to view the past as something that is not over and done and fact, but actually learning about it from the perspective of the present, creatively.”

One school destroyed their statue with its debris thrown in a bin – photo: Bristol Old Vic

The exhibition will be on display from on display at Bristol Old Vic’s pit passage until the end of the 2023.

Main photo: Bristol Old Vic

Read next:

• Protesters topple Colston’s statue amid jubilant scenes in Bristol
• Bridging Histories: Launch of a major project to connect people in Bristol
• Colston Statue should remain on display in museum, commission finds

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