The title 'Standing In This Place' has its origins in my quest to find female ancestors. My family is deeply rooted in the Midlands and I found my working-class ancestors mainly working in the textile and coal industries.
Bramley’s hardware shop c.1900 Ilkeston, since demolished
When trying to find places and connections to my female ancestors, I often discover that no trace remains. When looking at illiterate female ancestors, it’s hard to find any information about who they were other than; they were born, they were married, they had children and they died.
Newspapers in the National Archives have been very useful to help me understand the lives of some of these women. For example, one such story I discovered about a female lacemaker, aged 19, she was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct at Weekday Cross, Nottingham. When I visit the Lace Market area of Nottingham, in particularly weekday cross, I can stand in the place where my female ancestors once stood.
Being able to stand where my ancestors once stood, was the idea behind the sculptures title. When I began working with the black-led community group Legacy Makers, I discovered the difficulties they face when tracing ancestors of African origins. The ability to discover information about their ancestors roots, the places they once stood becomes much more difficult through the mass displacement of African people during the Trans Atlantic slave trade which saw millions of Africans forcibly taken and sold into slavery.
When thinking about the sculpture that we are creating and it's intended placement in the Broad Marsh new public park, it feels a very fitting location as census data for the 18th & 19th centuries show many female textile workers living in the Broad Marsh and Narrow Marsh areas, you can clearly see many workers, immigrants and paupers all living side-by-side in close conditions.
The two women featured in the sculpture are our connection to our ancestors, we tread in their footsteps, we Stand In This Place.
Rachel Carter