Stitching Souls

Stitching Souls showcases the Walker Art Gallery’s newest acquisition by British Trinidadian artist Karen McLean (born 1959). It comprises of 132 heads created with authentic African fabrics using traditional quilting techniques. Made in partnership with a community of sewers in the artist’s home city of Birmingham, the work honours and memorialises the enslaved African people who lost their lives in the Zong Massacre (1781). The slaving vessel Zong was financed by a group of Liverpool businessmen. The ship made navigational errors during its voyage from the west coast of Africa to Black River, Jamaica. The crew claimed to be running low on water supplies and threw 132 enslaved African people overboard to reduce demand. Of those, 54 are thought to have been women and children. Enslaved people were routinely insured at sea as ‘cargo’ and treated as non-human objects. Liverpool merchants attempted to claim compensation for their loss of ‘cargo’. In the case of the Zong, the definition was used to legally justify the murder of 132 enslaved African people. Stitching Souls draws inspiration from the Walker’s collection of merchant portraits. It reflects on the origin of Liverpool’s wealth and its direct link to slavery and the cotton trade. McLean's work emphasises how these atrocities have been silenced throughout British history. Through the act of stitching and sewing, she creates a platform for healing to support dialogue, reflection and recovery. Karen McLean has been artist- in- residence at the Walker Art Gallery in 2023-24. This work is part of the University of the Arts London (UAL) 20/20 project, led by the Decolonising Arts Institute and supported by funding from Arts Council England, the Freelands Foundation and UAL. The project has supported 20 emerging Global Ethnic Majority artists to take up residencies with 20 public art collections across the country, leading to 20 new permanent acquisitions.