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Some sections will have references to final drawings for more information. Click on the links when you see them to discover more!
Bamboo Club
It's been 55 years since one of the most iconic clubs in the country, the "Bamboo Club", opened in Bristol. It opened in 1966 and stayed open for 11 years until it burnt down in 1977 and never reopened.
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The Bamboo Club not only served as a music venue, but was also a lifeline for people in St Pauls community who were not welcome elsewhere because of the colour of their skin.
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“You couldn’t go into pubs in Bristol on your own if you were black… you’d get a hiding…” – Roy Hackett
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“In the 1960s there were no social or entertainment centres in Bristol that welcomed West Indians… when they walked into the Bamboo Club they felt like they were walking into Jamaica,” Bullimore would later recall. “They came in and were 100 percent relaxed – it was their place.”
Impact on Mental Health
Mental Health can be fundamental to survival after slavery
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"To break the cycle of slavery, we need to address the mental health of survivors" - Sarah Mathewson
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Although securing the most basic living needs for survivors is usually prioritised, an increasing body of evidence points to the importance of addressing people’s psychological needs as well in order to really break the cycle of slavery.
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If we are truly to understand the effects of slavery, and help survivors rebuild their lives, we must consider the mental health impact of slavery. People living in slavery have been totally dehumanised and treated as objects of another person’s will. They might find it hard to trust people and to form relationships, even with those trying to help. They may be living in total isolation. They may lack the self-confidence to take action in their own interests, living with the shame and stigma of their status as slavery survivors. They might also suffer from PTSD due to the trauma inherent in living in slavery, and all the violence and exploitation that went with it.
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Mental health can be fundamental to survival after slavery. It should be taken into account at all levels, because very often the psychological damage of slavery can prevent people not only from building their lives in freedom, but also from accessing support they might need to do that.
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Responding on wider scale
Click on the audio tab next to each station to hear more!
1) Guinea Street
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With it's row of 5-storey houses, it was home to several renowned slave traders. In the early eighteenth century, Westerners used this name for the whole of Africa's west coast.
2) The Hole in the Wall Pub, Queen Square
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Bristol's west coast location made it a hub for boat building. Bristol ships transported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to America and Europe in exchange of copper.
3) Pero's Bridge
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It's a modern monument that allows us to step towards the traumatic and often forgotten past of the enslaves themselves.
4) Old Bank, Corn Street
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Bristol's slave income wasn't just based around trading and shipping of people. The city profited from all of the businesses that went hand in hand with it. Bristol was a rich city, and the slave trade made it even wealthier.
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6) The Georgian House Museum, 7 Great George Street
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This elegant house was built in 1783 by John Pinney, 'owner' of Pero (the enslaved man for whom Pero's bridge is named). Though entrenched in wealth built upon slavery, Bristol was home to a strong and militant abolitionist movement. In 1788 it became the first city outside.
5) Colston Hall
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A London-based merchant, he made part of his fortune from slavery by investing in Africa and the Caribbean. He owned shares in the Royal African Company, which for a time held the monopoly of trade in Africa, and was on it's governing committee.
Responding with materials
Copper mining has a major environmental impact. If the metal is continually extracted, the land will forever be disfigured, causing flooding and soil erosion in the area. It will also cause large scale natural habitat destruction, causing many species to be uprooted. Taking this into consideration, copper was only used on a small scale (i.e. copper river stream as shown below) and instead the project responded to the narrative through the use of African fabric.
"Fabric Africa: Stories told through textiles"
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Fabric Africa is a stunning snapshot of the diversity of modern and historic textiles from across the continent of Africa. They explore the importance of cloth in social and political lives of those who wear them. Similarly, they are used in this project to reflect the story of Slave trade (examples of how the fabric has been used is shown on the right).
Every African fabric comes from a different origin as shown on the map below, and therefore each fabric was used to identify the type of plants to be grown in the Ecotherapy garden and Green house.
African Fabric origins
Fabric pod for talking/listening
Fabric pod for exercising (yoga)