The statue interpretation process – what we’ve done

Interpretation Working Group

This group consisted of representatives from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London, Black Cultural Archives and the Foundation. The representatives work in heritage, arts development, history, education, diversity and inclusion, and student relations. The role of the group is to represent the voices of the organisations and communities they are part of, to guide the interpretation work.

The Brixton Project

The Brixton Project is a community of engagement experts who work to co-create community spaces. The Brixton Project supported our community engagement work on the statues. This involved talking with many groups and people from Lambeth and Southwark to hear their views on the design of the interpretation. There were more than 40 engagement sessions with community leaders, community members and school groups including We Rise, Black Thrive Lambeth, ELEVATE and REACH.

Cliveden Conservation

Cliveden Conservation creates the most appropriate conservation interventions for buildings or objects. The company has a longstanding association with the National Trust. Its team work with many heritage organisations.

Rupert Harris Conservation

Conservators of fine metalwork, historic and modern sculpture. Rupert Harris Conservation is responsible for all National Trust metalwork. The company also consults for English Heritage, the Royal Household and Historic Royal Palaces, and many other national institutions.

Philip Simpson

Philip Simpson is a designer who specialises in design for the arts, museum and heritage sectors. He delivers award-winning museum design in stimulating and accessible ways.

Dr Ayshah Johnston

Dr Ayshah Johnston is the Learning and Engagement Manager at Black Cultural Archives. She has a PhD in history and draws on her experience as a museum and community educator to reach out to school children and family audiences. Alongside this, she facilitates research collaborations with UK universities.

Professor Matthew Smith

Matthew J. Smith is Professor of History and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London. His research is pan-Caribbean in scope. He has special interest in the 19th and 20th century histories of Haiti and Jamaica.

Dr Michael Bennett and Dr Esther Brot

Dr Michael D. Bennett is a historian of early modern empire in the 17th and 18th centuries. He specialises in the history of early modern Britain, Caribbean slavery, and the East India Company. He is a Lecturer in Early Modern British History at The University of Sheffield.

Dr Esther Brot is an early modern British social historian. She specialises in the history of the City of London, institutions and prisons. She completed a PhD in History at King’s College London. Her main areas of research are social, political, and gender history in 17th, 18th and 19th century Britain. She has also been a researcher on a number of projects investigating links between British institutions and slavery.

Both authored the historical report Thomas Guy, Sir Robert Clayton and Our Shared Colonial Past: Sources, Context, Connections.

Dr Charlotte Davis

Dr Charlotte Davis completed her PhD at the University of York. She holds a BA in Philosophy with History of Art from the University of Essex and an MA in History of Art from the University of East Anglia. Her research includes investigations of sculpture’s cultural significance. In other research she charts the development of sculpture’s place as an artform rather than a craft pursuit.

Black Cultural Archives

Black Cultural Archives is an archive and heritage centre in Brixton, London. It collects, preserves and celebrates the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in the UK.

Historic England

Historic England helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England’s historic environment. It is a public body funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.