A new exhibition has opened in Weston Libraryโs Blackwell Hall as part of a collaboration between the Bodleian Libraries and British opera singer Peter Brathwaite. The collection aims to provide audiences with a humanising perspective on history, utilising Brathwaiteโs own family history as both enslaved people and slave owners, and will be open until 7th April.
The theme of the collection is โMischief in the Archives,โ referencing the common label โmischievousโ used for enslaved individuals who attempted to resist oppression and assert their humanity. To symbolise this visually, Brathwaite created a ceremonial costume depicting the trickster god in Caribbean folklore, which represents โhis own role in the story.โ
During a previous talk in November as part of the We Are Our History conversations, Brathwaite revealed that using the Bodleianโs collections, he was able to trace back his family history. He found his roots in the British-owned Codrington plantations in Barbados, where some of his ancestors were slave traders and others enslaved.
This exhibit is the culmination of that research, juxtaposing content from the Bodleian archives against artefacts from Brathwaiteโs own family collection. It aims to โchallenge preconceived racialised narratives the archives have long muted,โ bringing to life names only remembered in colonial records and restoring a human aspect to them.
Brathwaite noted that the work was โpain-staking,โ and that the โvisceral violenceโ in the historic papers was often a struggle to handle, but it was worth it in light of the โlittle nuggetsโ he could dig out from the collections. โIf you move away from the data, you can find the people behind the numbers.โ
The items displayed include Barbados plantation accounts and letters from John Brathwaite, the owner of a plantation, as well as objects belonging to Addo Brathwaite, Peterโs fourth great-grandfather and freed slave originally from Ghana. According to Jasdeep Singh, who leads We Are Our History, the creation of this โcounter-archiveโ aims to โtake a fresh look at the imbalance of [the Bodleianโs] collections […] and the impact of the colonial era in the libraries.โ
Singh said, โBy sharing this platform with Peter to engage critically with our collections, this display embodies our commitment through the We Are Our History Project to learn, adapt and represent overlooked stories and experiences within our archives.โ
Brathwaite is known for his work in opera, having sung for groups including the English National Opera, Danish National Opera, and Philharmonie de Paris. He also published a work titled โRediscovering Black Portraitureโ in April 2023, a collection of portrait recreations which โreclaims Black history and art.โ