Scarlett Crawford has come out with project “First Waves” after she was appointed by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art to explore and celebrate the 1965, 1968 and 1976 Race Relations Acts.
Through 'First Waves' Scarlett worked with six partner institutions across six different cities of Cardiff, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham in the UK to capture the voices of generations who have been directly impacted by the Race Relations Acts. Her father who is from the Windrush generation had to go through a whole documentation process after the scandal broke out and helped her in parts in drawing her inspiration for her work.
“It wasn't until I was 18 that I found out that my family is of the Indian diaspora. So you find out a lot about slavery and exploitation but you don't find out about the other migration that happened across the world due to British colonialism,” said Scarlett.
As part of her exhibition Scarlett had photographed close to 140 people where men, women and children from different communities and backgrounds are seen burning papers, holding pens and bulbs and using red ribbons as a way of sharing their personal racial experiences.
“So, finding out that my ancestral roots are Indian even though my father was Jamaican made me realise that there are more stories to tell. It is not just about being black and white” explained the artist.
The educator is from South London and grew in up in the politically active area of Brixton. As a kid Scarlett always thought that she had a role to play and she talks about how she used to write to John Major when he was the Prime Minister. Coincidentally when the Windrush scandal broke out she was also working on her project over race and meeting other people. It was then that Scarlett said that she realised- “the importance of the project and it was the opportunity for those people to amplify these concerns and show that the Parliament was engaging and willing to listen to them.”
Why colonial and race history should be taught in schools?
The project highlighted the different forms of racism that people suffered with victims varying from being as young as 12 to as old as 99 years. Scarlett narrated one particular story of a 12 year old at a workshop in Liverpool that felt so honest and simple that she recalls her saying-
“Imagine a 12-year old to be so perceptive when she talks about how history is not very well touched upon as thoroughly as the Holocaust in curriculum and why it needs to be taught in order to do away with these biases that exist in the society today”
But how does Scarlett expect this project to transform and reform the education space? The images are going to be returned to the societies and communities in which they were taken. But Scarlett also hopes to create this project as an educational resource that can be taken into schools or used to generate more conversation around racism and create awareness.
If the British schools are looked at then most emphasis is around the Tudor history and concepts of Roman civilisations among other subjects. The negatives of colonial imperialism and race divisions or slave trade are hardly taught about in detail in primary or secondary schools and mostly left as an optional subject for A levels and college courses.
Scarlett believes that- “the best way to become involved with politics without becoming a politician is to become an artist”
The artworks created at these workshops are exhibited in Westminster Hall at present.
