“Blood Sugar”: Screening & Panel Discussion
- 7 September 2023
- 2:00 – 3:30 pm
- Paul Mellon Centre
Reflect on the research and collaboration behind Blood Sugar, a co-produced film on the slavery history of Newstead Abbey
To coincide with the Drawing Room Display here at 16 Bedford Square, A Harpy and His Brothers: The Wildmans in Bedford Square and Newstead Abbey, this special event will reflect on the research and collaboration behind Blood Sugar, a co-produced film on the slavery history of Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, which features in the display. Including a screening of the film and short presentations from those involved in its making, the event will showcase new research on Newstead and its connections with slavery history, and explore how creative film-making and co-production can open up new understandings and engagements with British heritage sites. Presenters will include Dr Susanne Seymour (University of Nottingham), Dr Helen Bates (Bright Ideas, Nottingham), and Michelle Hubbard (poet), with the Legacy Makers volunteers introduced by Lisa Robinson (Bright Ideas, Nottingham).
Event image: Slave Trade Legacies (STL) group with Dr. Shawn Naphtali Sobers and Michelle Hubbard, Blood Sugar - Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire - A Slavery Connected History, 2018. Video Permanently exhibited at Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, Duration; 5:01. Courtesy of Newstead Abbey.
About the speakers
-
Lisa Robinson is Director of Social Enterprise, Bright Ideas Nottingham. She is co-facilitator of the Legacy Makers (formerly Slave Trade Legacies) group. She is currently studying for a PhD in Black Studies at the University of Nottingham.
-
Helen Bates is a local historian and practitioner in public history and heritage. She has developed and led several heritage projects, shaped by volunteer research and interpretation. Since 2012, she has co-created the Legacy Makers project in partnership with Bright Ideas Nottingham. This project has particularly investigated the source of the wealth that built or refashioned places in the East Midlands that are now open to the public as heritage sites, including Newstead Abbey. This has included a specific focus on the wealth generated by the ownership of enslaved people or the manufacture of goods using raw materials derived from enslaved labour.
-
Michelle Mother Hubbard is a Nottingham born and based writer, poet, lyricist, storyteller, African drummer, creative practitioner, and workshop facilitator. She is co-founder of Blackdrop spoken word event, the longest running open mic night in the East Midlands. Her work appears in numerous anthologies and she has two collections of self published poetry (The Tapestry of a Black Woman and The Irish-Jamaican).
-
Susanne Seymour is an associate professor in the School of Geography and Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Slavery at the University of Nottingham. Her research focuses on the colonial and enslavement connections of provincial and rural Britain, including landed estates. Core to her research practice is the development of collaborative ways of interpreting these hidden histories in heritage sites. She has worked with the Legacy Makers volunteers since 2014.