Past exhibitions

27 June - 18 July 2007

The World is Richer
Sculpture and maquettes
Sokari Douglas Camp CBE

Wallspace is delighted to welcome Sokari Douglas Camp, whose work NO-O-WAR-R NO-O-WAR-R was shortlisted for Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth in 2003. This exhibition entitled The World is Richer, centres around new work for the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery. Douglas Camp is currently down to the last two for a major public memorial in London's Hyde Park to mark the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade. The Wallspace exhibition features a number of steel maquettes representing the artist's thinking towards the final memorial.

The proposed Hyde Park sculpture shows a line of life-sized figures representing successive stages of the slavery saga spanning the 18th to 2lst centuries.

Each of the figures throws a sculpted shadow, containing a phrase based on a quotation from the liberated ex-slave William Prescott: 'They will remember that we were sold but they won't remember that we were strong; they will remember that we were bought but not that we were brave.'

'Prescott's words challenged me to confront the past and look towards the future,' says the artist. 'The figures are not kneeling or begging, they are standing and playing a part in world history.'

The exhibition also includes maquettes for other public works, including The Ken Saro-Wiwa Living Memorial Bus, and Nativity. The controversial Bin Laden Pieta, a response to 9/11, and The Cross We Bear, commemorating the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, complete the show.

Elements of this exhibition were originally shown at Harewood House, Leeds. Curated by Sarah Brown, the exhibition All the world is now richer, ran from 16 March - 13 May 2007.

Click here for events taking place during the run of The World is Richer.

This exhibition forms part of the City of London Festival