Please join Matthew Chesney, Director of BACKLIT Art Gallery, for an artist's talk on his 3D-sculpture of nineteenth century philanthropist Samuel Morley, at the National Museum of Justice.
Morley, an English woollen manufacturer, was a political radical, MP, abolitionist, and campaigner for worker’s rights. He introduced pensions and allowances for his workforce, and donated money to Nottingham Castle, the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and Morley College in London. He even refused a peerage from the Queen as he did not want to be ‘seen as above the people.’
A statue of Morley was produced after his death in 1888 by James Harvard Thomas and placed outside the Theatre Royal. Unfortunately, the memorial was deemed a traffic obstruction in 1927 and broken in transit on its way to the Arboretum.
Matthew will discuss his statue of the famous manufacturer, Morley's life, and his legacy in Nottingham.
As founder and director of BACKLIT Matthew is responsible for BACKLIT’s visual arts exhibition programming and the creative ethos which underpins the gallery. He founded Backlit immediately after graduating from Nottingham Trent University’s BA Fine Art course in 2008. His work as an artist is based around performance, video and sculpture with experimental configurations of people and technologies. He has worked internationally on projects and residencies in Japan, Germany and UK.
This event forms part of the 'Penny Lecture Series' in collaboration with the Univeristy of Nottingham, Backlit Art Gallery, and the National Justice Museum. Matthew Chesney (Director of BACKLIT) and Hannah-Rose Murray (PhD student, in the University of Nottingham) have curated a small exhibition to formerly enslaved African American Josiah Henson and his friend and benefactor, manufacturer and philanthropist Samuel Morley. Josiah Henson and Samuel Morley’s connected story represents the campaign for freedom, equality and human rights in Nottingham, and beyond. In the late nineteenth century, Samuel Morley organised a series of 'Penny Lectures' for the working classses. Designed to increase their education, men and women would pay just a penny to attend a variety of lectures on numerous subjects from science to politics.
We have resurrected the Penny Lecture Series in Nottingham, focusing on subjects that both men were passionate about, including community, antislavery and activism:
1. Wednesday 26 April 2017: Matthew Chesney (BACKLIT Art Gallery, 'Morley's Legacy in Nottingham', National Justice Museum. Register for free: morleyslegacy.eventbrite.co.uk
2. Tuesday 2 May 2017: Hannah-Rose Murray (University of Nottingham), 'African American Activism in Nottingham', Nottingham Contemporary. Register for free: africanamericanactivism.eventbrite.co.uk
3. Thursday 18 May 2017: Lisa Robinson (Bright Ideas), 'Slave Trade Legacies: Past, Present and Future', New Art Exchange. Register for free: slavetradelegacies.eventbrite.co.uk
4. Monday 29 May 2017: Professor Zoe Trodd (University of Nottingham), 'The Freedom Blueprint: How We End Contemporary Slavery ', National Justice Museum. Register for free: thefreedomblueprint.eventbrite.co.uk
5.Thursday 8 June 2017: Panya Banjoko (Nottingham Black Archive), 'Black History Heritage in Nottingham', New Art Exchange. Register for free: blackhistoryheritage.eventbrite.co.uk