Standing In This Place: A sculpture & heritage project

The University of Hull's Wilberforce Institute hosts a public lecture by Legacy Makers Jenny Wizzard and Bettina Wallace, along with sculptor Rachel Carter, who will discuss the four-year journey to create Standing In This Place.

Standing in this Place is a sculpture & heritage project created by sculptor Rachel Carter & the Legacy Makers.

This ambitious new sculpture gives representation to the under-represented and amplifies the voices of thousands of unnamed women who were the driving forces behind the East Midlands cotton textile industry during Industrialisation.

The statue’s inclusion in a public park places Nottingham at the forefront of historic female recognition. It establishes the city as a regional, national, and global leader in acknowledging the significant contributions women have made to the British economy and society, both as enslaved workers in the Americas and Caribbean, and as factory workers in industrial Britain.

About Legacy Makers

Legacy Makers is a community history initiative by Bright Ideas Nottingham and the Legacy Makers volunteers. The project began as a one-year pilot in 2014 under the name Slave Trade Legacies. More than 100 volunteers from the Black community took part in the first year, working to challenge heritage sites to recognise their links to the transatlantic trade of African peoples.

Along the way, the group chose to rename the initiative after agreeing that their ancestors were not “slaves.” They were human beings, forcibly caught up in the inhuman trade of African peoples.

About the Artist

Working from The Garden Studio on the Derbyshire–Nottinghamshire border, artist Rachel Carter uses hand processes and the ancient lost wax technique to create large-scale public realm sculptures, as well as works for the home and garden.

Since graduating from the Sustainable Applied Arts degree, Rachel has been driven by the application of hand-weaving processes to form intricate textures and structures in sculpture. She continues to collaborate with Pangolin Editions foundry, combining historic textile methods with digital technologies to push the boundaries of lost wax casting.

Many of her commissions are grounded in a love of history. She views the opportunity to represent shared and complex histories through sculpture as an honour. Her own ancestry often provides inspiration, adding to a long legacy of weavers, knitters, and makers that spans more than 350 years of East Midlands industrial heritage.

The Wilberforce Institute Public Lectures programme:

We are delighted to be partnering once again with Hull Museums to offer attendees at our public lectures the chance to visit Wilberforce House Museum next door before joining us for the event.

Lectures will begin at 4 pm and will take place at our home in Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull, HU1 1NE. We are very grateful to Hull Museums for their generous support of the Wilberforce Institute’s public lecture programme, and we hope many of you will take the opportunity to explore their fascinating exhibitions beforehand.

Refreshments will be available from 3:45 pm, and we warmly invite you to stay afterwards for a glass of wine and the chance to chat with our speaker.

A limited number of in-person tickets are available. If you are unable to join us in Hull, you can still enjoy the lecture online – please select the appropriate ticket type when booking.