[size=11](Courtesy of © Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
LITTLE RASCALS: Albert Jonas and John Xiniwe, who were part of The African Choir[/size]
SHACKLED FEET, scantily clad men and women against a backdrop laced with the hopelessness of bondage are the usual images that punctuate photographic depictions of the experience of black people who lived in the 1800s.
But Autograph ABP’s uncovering of over 200 ‘astounding’ portraits of people of African descent, taken in Victorian times, tells an altogether different story.
The gallery of never-before-exhibited photographs of regally dressed black men and women confirm their ranks with confident and strong poses as well as “present new knowledge and offer different ways of seeing the black subject in Victorian Britain”.
QUEEN’S COMPANION: Sarah Forbes Bonetta (1843-1880) was sent from West Africa as a gift to Queen Victoria from King Ghezo of Dahome. In 1862, she married Nigerian merchant James Pinson Labulo and returned to Africa. Queen Victoria was godmother to their first child, Victoria (Courtesy of Paul Frecker collection/The Library of Nineteenth Century Photography)
The images challenge the perception that the contributions of black people in the UK began with the docking of the Empire Windrush at the port of Tilbury in June 1948.
The exhibition, titled The Black Chronicles II, is part of the Missing Chapter’s project – a three-year Heritage Lottery-funded scheme.
Exhibition curator Renée Mussai told The Voice that the photographs, many of which were rescued from the bowels of the Hulton Archive, were important in ‘filling the gaps’ of black history.
She said: “They provide evidence that people were here – lived, worked and performed here; that they formed part of Victorian and Edwardian society whether as servicemen and women, or active in other professions, or simply came here to be educated, or to visit briefly.
SONGSTRESS: An unnamed member of The African Choir from South Africa. They played concerts for a high-profile audience including Queen Victoria who toured Britain between 1891-93 (London Stereoscopic Company, 1891. Pic courtesy of © Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
“Their presence here, of course, was intimately linked with Britain’s colonial and imperial history and in terms of photography…we must remember that it was highly unusual in 19th Century Britain to see individuals from different cultural backgrounds photographed in a commercial studio with such dignity, confidence and individuality…”
She added: “It is especially unusual to see a complete body of work as represented, for instance in the individual portraits of the African Choir, based on research to date.
“These photographs represent the most significant and comprehensive body of work depicting the black subject in Victorian Britain. The portraits of the two young African boys in the studio are…different from any imagery of children in a commercial studio setting I have encountered previously; even more astounding that they are black children in London.”
SPORTSMAN: Boxing champion Peter Jackson, born in the Danish West Indies, toured Europe. In 1888, he became Australian Heavyweight Champion. He died in Sydney in (London Stereoscopic Company, 1889 (Courtesy of © Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Mussai hopes that the photographs will influence black history education in Britain.
She said: “Black history, in this country especially, is often told through the prism of the Windrush, 1948. The exhibition aims to present a portfolio of people traditionally left out of the frame, and as such to bring together a visual heritage often fragmented and dislocated.
“In terms of education, it invites audiences of all kinds to critically engage with the images on display, enjoy them as well as question the purpose they serve as agents of communication – now as well as then.”