Dr Errol Francis, Artistic Director and CEO, Culture&, said: “Culture& is elated to launch its national programme Time, Space and Empire with Jacqueline Bishop at V&A Wedgwood Collection to tell a neglected story using ceramics in the centre of British pottery. It feels important to debut this artistic intervention on UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.”

Catrin Jones, Chief Curator, V&A Wedgwood Collection, added: “V&A Wedgwood Collection is delighted to host the launch of Culture&’s Time, Space and Empire programme. Commemorating UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, this programme aims to expand the narrative on Wedgwood’s abolitionist history.”

The Keeper of All The Secrets The market woman is traditionally known as a ‘huckster,’ was one of the most ubiquitous figures from plantation Jamaica. While ever-present, she has remained largely overlooked.

Jacqueline Bishop’s tea service, The Keeper of All The Secrets, is a meticulously crafted collection of bone china plates, tableware, and textiles that pay homage to the market woman. The forms—teapots, cups, saucers, cream pitchers, and sugar pots—are adorned with collaged images in overglaze print transfers, outlined by hand in gold and silver. Bishop’s work not only celebrates the market woman but also showcases the highest level of craftsmanship.

Bishop, in collaboration with Stoke-on-Trent-based ceramist Emma Price, has created a unique artwork featuring diverse influences. The artwork includes floral and abolitionist imagery collages alongside images of female labour sourced from Jamaican postcards, paintings of enslaved women from Brazil, the colonial paintings of Italian Agostino Brunias, and contemporary photos.

Jacqueline Bishop, artist, writer and academic, said: “I’m delighted to be collaborating with Culture& and the V&A Wedgwood on this new work which focuses on making visible the invisible, in making tangible the ephemeral, in speaking aloud the unspoken, and in voicing voicelessness.”

The Keeper of All The Secrets is displayed in the V&A Wedgwood Collection Welcome Space as part of the Time, Space and Empire public programme, in partnership with Culture&.

The artwork will be featured until 3rd November 2024.

Highlights of the programme:
The Long Table installation runs from 23 August – 6 September 2024, open daily 10am-5 pm.

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery will also host a long table on sugar, tea, plants,
and pottery from 3 – 4 pm [click to book].

Gabriella Gay, Poet and Keele PhD researcher, said: “I’m excited to be working on such an important programme and event for Staffordshire. Traditionally, conversations about slavery and abolition happen in port cities like Bristol and Liverpool. It is an exciting step for an inland area like Staffordshire to explore its colonial histories and legacies of abolition and enslavement through this artwork. This programme’s reach and legacy are national, international, and local-regional.”

Events will continue on 31st August as part of Future Fest and on 6th September 2024. For details about the full programme visit:  https://www.cultureand.org/news/jacqueline-bishop-keeper-of-all-the-secrets-exhibition-events/