National Museums Liverpool Blog - Friday, August 29, 2008

Out and about this summer it's great to see so many local bands doing well.

At Leeds Festival I stumbled across MySpace friends The Maybes? jangling all over the place and I’m told that an instrumental version of their latest single is going to be used on Soccer Am. (Now I always thought that GK & The Renegades' 'It's Down To You' would be perfect for a cup competition or for Match of the Day. Remember, you heard it here first). 

Meanwhile former TBGO top ten contenders Major Major have reached the finals of Rockstar 08 with a chance to play Glastonbury next year. And of course, there’s been the glorious Mathew Street Festival and its fringe with our mates The Trestles, The White Widows, The Spectres … well, too many to mention.

This Sunday it's the Love Music Hate Racism's summer bash at The Picket with another corking line up of bands including 28 Costumes who you'll be able to hear in September's Top Ten. (If you are heading to The Picket then it's a good opportunity to bob into the International Slavery Museum on route).

You see! The beat really does go on. Even when you’re on holiday. 

The beat goes on and on and on ...

If you haven’t given August’s TBGO bands your vote yet, there’s still time … but only just, and to take part you need to visit the MySpace page. The poll will close at 11.59pm on 31st August and the winner will join the digital jukebox in The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum Liverpool. Who will it be?  

* The Majority * Whiskey Headshot * Tony Kehoe * Shane Beales * My Auntie Sam * The Spectres * Rob Gough * The White Widows * Jajuka * GK & The Renegades *

Me being interviewed on the gallery

Hello there

Well I hope that many of you got to attend Slavery Remembrance Day this year.  Once again it was a very poignant day but at the same time it had many positive and inspirational moments.   There were various performances which took place at the main event site at Otterspool which highlighted the rich African cultures that have influenced so many aspects of life around the world.   Earlier in the day there had been a multi faith act of reflection at St Nicholas Church and on the Thursday the poet and actor Lemn Sissay gave the annual Slavery Remembrance Day lecture at the Town Hall.

Last week really was a particularly busy one.  Not only did we have the Slavery Remembrance events but the 23 August marked the first anniversary of the opening of the International Slavery museum.   And what a year it has been!  Over 300, 000 visitors, international recognition, massive media exposure and a rich array of high profile visitors such as Harry Belafonte; Jesse Jackson and Paul Robeson Jr to name a few.  To mark the occasion we launched We Are One, an exhibition of celebration and reflection.  If you have not managed to visit the museum yet then now is the time to come. The exhibition will be in the museum until January 09.

The 28th was a particularly exciting day as we welcomed the US NBC Today Show  programme as they were broadcasting live from the museum.  The Today Show has over 6 million viewers so it is great exposure for us in the US.   I was interviewed by Al Roker, TODAY anchor and weatherman.  He had been carrying out some research on his family heritage which was part Bahamian and he wanted to visit Liverpool as it was central to the transatlantic slave trade. I even contacted my family members in Guyana and Canada just in case they could tune into the show. You can watch the interview on the msnbc website (right after the advert for a certain food chain).

Even though I have done quite a bit of media since I stared this job (I was on the Dean Sullivan aka Jimmy Corkhill radio show last week!) I have only done one other live TV programme for a local station, not one seen by so many viewers.  Come to think of it, in the opening week of the museum last year I was interviewed for RAI TV in Italy which was apparently dubbed. The kind of embarrassing moment I expect to see on You Tube one day! 

There were quite a few members of the public watching today as the interview took place right in the centre of the museum, it was pretty chaotic but people seemed to find it interesting.   With such a commotion going on I am sure they expected to see someone famous rather than me although there was a round of applause when we finished!

Bye for now. 

More on the progress of this reconstruction project from Kathy Wedge (here's the background to the project in case you've missed previous instalments), plus progress snaps on Flickr.

Wax model at foundry showing sprues and top of head cut off

The finished clay sculpting has now been approved by Liverpool City Council, but that is only part of the story. We now have to produce the actual foundry cast bronze reliefs from these clay sculptures.

The clay panels which as previously mentioned are very heavy were loaded onto a van using a hoist and fork lift truck and taken to a fine art foundry.  The panels are being cast using the ‘lost wax’ method of casting. This involves a thin layer of silicone rubber being painted over the clay models which defines the detail of the sculpting, further thicker layers of silicone are then applied until an accurate mould is produced. But of course  silicone rubber is not rigid, so a plaster jacket to hold the rubber stable and reduce the risk of distortion also has to be made.

Once this mould and jacket have been produced, wax is painted into the mould to form a wax model. The mould is taken off leaving a hollow wax sculpture which is cleaned and the detail checked for imperfections. The hollow wax sculpture is cut into sections for ease of casting, particularly where there are extending features, and wax sprues are added to the sections of the wax model, that will act as air vents when the wax melts at the casting stage.

The pieces of the hollow wax model are the dipped several times into a ceramic mixture which form ceramic shell around the sections which are strong enough to withstand the high pressures and thermal shock of the molten metal used in the casting.

The molten bronze is poured into the shell via a cupped sprue or air vent and as it is poured the wax melts running out of the air vents leaving the bronze casting encased in the ceramic shell.

The ceramic shells are broken off the bronze castings and the sections are welded together very carefully, and polished so that the joins cannot be seen. That is the end of the actual casting process but not the end of the story. More about the rest of the process in our next post.

Having not been to the Mathew Street Festival for several years (due to the high proliforation of Swedish Rolling Stones cover bands and 'highlights' being performers called Robbing Williams) I was persuaded to go along on Monday to check it out once more. I was pleased that they at least now have a new bands stage, but I wonder if the bands were getting paid as much as the fake rockers? Anyway it was worth it as I got to see local band, ASBOS, who I've seen before and are always deliciously weird. Great songs and cool vocals that remind me of The Pixies. It was good to see them up on a big stage, singing their classics; 'That's Not Mum' and 'Weird Dream' while getting screamed at, Take That-style, by a group of teenies wearing leopard print leggings and angel wings.

ASBOS? No, they look like such well behaved boys.

Later on I headed back into town to see one of the bands in the new 'Mathew Street Fringe Festival', which is basically all the proper bands, like ASBOS, from the Liverpool music scene and beyond. It was Be Your Own Pet's (Nashville, USA) penultimate gig before they split up. FOREVER. I saw them at Leeds Festival two years ago and wanted to see them in a small venue, which is always best. A shame they're splitting up as they really are a great band live. They didn't disappoint, with their singer Jemina ripping into every song and their bassist stage-diving over the crowd and writhing about on the floor at my feet! I spoke to him later and he seemed to have recovered, apart from a large lump on his forehead. That's real rock'n'roll for you.

The centrepiece given to James Penny. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

I confess to helping to raise awareness about the sinister origins of perhaps Liverpool’s best-known thoroughfare. Penny Lane – immortalised by The Beatles’ song – is probably named after notorious slave trader James Penny.

In 2006 there was a move – later withdrawn - to rename Liverpool streets named after people linked to the slave trade. I happened to mention to the local media that Penny Lane was one of them and the story went around the world.

Like other byways named after people, Penny or his family either owned land in the area or had strong associations with it. Penny is now remembered as one of the chief Liverpool apologists for the slave trade. He made 11 voyages as a captain in the trade and had his own shipping company called James Penny & Co. Penny was one of several Liverpool traders who spoke in favour of the slave trade at the Parliamentary enquiry which spent several years investigating the traffic. He claimed that the enslaved Africans on his ships were allowed to play games, dance and sing.

Penny told the enquiry: “If the weather is sultry and there appears the least perspiration on their skins when they come upon deck, there are two men attending with cloths to rub them perfectly dry and another to give them a little cordial.” But he showed his true colours when he clinically revealed details of how they were brutally accommodated below decks: “The average allowance of width to a slave is 14 and two-thirds inches.” When Penny returned to Liverpool, the town’s grateful Corporation (council) -dominated by slaving interests - made a presentation to him in 1792. The silver-plated oval epergne (table centrepiece) is on display in the new International Slavery Museum in MerseysideMaritimeMuseum.

Another display features a Liverpool city centre road named after well-known slave traders. Tarleton Street, off Church Street. Among the most infamous was Sir Banastre Tarleton MP, who was the son of former Mayor John Tarleton. Sir Banastre had a brilliant army career against the rebels in the American War of Independence. He was MP for Liverpool from 1790 to 1812 apart from a year’s break. This was from 1806 to 1807 when he was beaten at the polls by abolitionist William Roscoe who helped secure the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.

More on Liverpool streets associated with the slave trade can be found on our main site.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from www.merseyshop.com (£1.50 p&p UK).

This week saw the unveiling of the mysterious 'Arbores Laetae' or 'Joyful Trees' which started spinning near the Cains Brewery in Liverpool, to herald the run up to this year's Liverpool Biennial.  It all kicks off on 20 September, with the announcement of the winner of the John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery.

The creation of artists Diller Scofidio + Renfro, these spinning trees are certainly a bit spooky, but also not great if a dog decides to spend a penny nearby I think. Here is a video so you can check it out for yourself:

Ashley Cooke on the mummies in the new Ancient Egypt gallery.

Examining the lamb mummy

The museum has about 60 animal mummies of various kinds, from crocodiles to dogs. In the new Ancient Egypt gallery there will be eight animal mummies on display in a showcase dedicated to animals. One of the mummies appears to be that of a very young lamb (museum accession number M13648). It was given as a gift to the museum in 1867 by the jeweller and antiquarian, Joseph Mayer. The intricate pattern of the bandages suggests it is of the Roman period (about 30 BC - AD 200). The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden has 3 similar mummies that have been X-rayed and proven to contain the bones of very young lambs. We decided to X-ray our mummy to confirm the identification and the mummy's association with the god Khnumn, who is often depicted with a ram's head. We used the digital X-ray machine within the Reveal exhibition gallery at National Conservation Centre. We are now examining the results with the assistance of other colleagues.
 
But why was this little lamb killed and mummified? From the 26th Dynasty and on into the Roman Period (about 664 BC - AD 395) animals would be mummified en masse at cult centres for gods that were associated with animals. One such site was the temple at Bubastis which was sacred to the goddess Bastet. Bastet was often depicted in the form of a cat and pilgrims would purchase mummified cats so that they could make a votive offering (a gift) to the goddess.
 
Hundreds of thousands of cat mummies have been found in catacombs in Egypt. In 1890 about 9 tons of cat mummies from a catacomb at the cemetery of Beni Hasan were shipped into the port of Liverpool. They were sold off by the ton to be used as fertilizer. Bidding started at £3 per ton and gradually advanced to £5 17s 6. Thankfully this no longer happens!  If you'd like to learn more about animal mummies and how you could help care for the largest collection of animals mummies in the world visit the Egyptian Museum's 'Animal Mummies' website.

Snappy suits!

We're cutting it a bit fine with the August 'name that object' competition, but are launching it on Tuesday 26th August (so the final clue will be on Saturday 30th). The prize this month is this fab but vaguely surreal set of Beatles figures. I say surreal because, as you may have noticed, there's a crocodile on stage with them.  The figures are 'straight from the classic Beatles cartoon series' that launched in the US in 1965, and apparently the croc featured in the series. The mind boggles.

Anyhoo, should you wish to give the Fab Four and their crocodilian friend a home you first need to name the object from our collection. It's an artwork, with a new detail being revealed each day for five days. Enter using the link on the competition page.

Should you fail to win I'm reliably informed that you can buy these sets in the World Museum Liverpool giftshop where they are on sale as part of the The Beat Goes On exhibition.

Offerings for the health of the 14th Dalai Lama at a local gompa

For anyone spending time with the Tibetan community here in Boudhanath it is impossible to ignore the ‘Tibet Question’. Around the stupa storeowners sell t-shirts emblazoned with the Tibetan flag (which is banned in China) and the slogans ‘Save Tibet’ or ‘Free Tibet’. Although Tibetans regularly protest against the Olympic Games and Chinese rule in Tibet, freedom of speech here is not unconditional. The Nepal government has banned performances of Tibetan dance and opera and institutes, monasteries and schools have been warned against participating in protests or speaking out against the Chinese government, as this could result in the closing or removal of the organisations.

So with this in mind, I will just make a few observations regarding the Tibetan community’s efforts in the run up to, and during, the Olympics. The first thing to note is that the majority of protests, here in Kathmandu, go unreported, even in the Nepalese press. For the past week, protest, vigils or silent gatherings have been happening every day. The routine is the same, protestors arrive at the Chinese Embassy, in Kathmandu, protests are made, the police control the protestors, sometimes with beatings and nearly always with arrests, protestors (on average between 100 and 300 a day) are arrested, put in jail for the night, released, and then wait for the next day’s rendezvous point to be arranged.

The second thing to note is that the protestors come from every part of the Tibetan community. The protestors aren’t just nuns, monks and students, but young mothers, housewives and shopkeepers. Everyone wants to play a part in keeping Tibet in the World’s thoughts.

On August 8^th major protests took place across Kathmandu with over 1,400 arrests being made. Tibetan shopkeepers closed their stores in protest against the Olympics, some for several days. This is not an empty gesture, with food and fuel shortages in Nepal affecting everyone; this is a major sacrifice and will have a big effect on the incomes of many Tibetan families, especially in Boudhanath.

On my last full day in Nepal - the 14th August - there was another major protest and again young and old gathered in their thousands to remind everyone of the Tibetan cause. Tibetan shops here is Boudhanath closed as people made their way to the Chinese Embassy.

The Watt by William Jackson. image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

This Saturday, 23 August, is Slavery Remembrance Day which I have been involved in since its inception in 1999. It is a very popular and moving occasion which involves commemorations including a church service, lecture, drama, music and dancing.

The transatlantic slave trade involved the notorious Middle Passage between Africa and the New World when many enslaved Africans died in horrific conditions on board ships. Journeys took five weeks or more and the slaves were held in cramped, airless spaces below decks. Food and water were limited, with no fresh provisions available.

An exhibit in the new International Slavery Museum, in the Merseyside Maritime Museum building, represents the journeys of three slave ships called the Brooks, the Bud and the Rose which all sailed out of Liverpool in 1788. It is based on a chilling document called “Printed dimensions and names of ships in Liverpool employed in the slave trade with the details of provisions and mortality rate etc 1788."

The Brooks (297 tons) sailed from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to the West Indies with 609 slaves on board. The journey took 49 days and 19 Africans died on the voyage. The daily food ration was about 1.5 lbs of beans, 2 oz of bread, 8 oz of yams, 1 oz of dried fish and eight pints of water.There were 351 captive men on the Brooks, confined to a hold measuring about 46 ft by 25 ft. Women and children were held separately in similar conditions.

Disease, brutality and suicide led to between one quarter and one tenth of slaves dying during the Middle Passage voyage. Crew members also died.

The displays also feature exhibits linked to the Watt family who had plantations in Jamaica. As a boy, Richard Watt drove a one-horse carriage around Liverpool. He later went to Jamaica to seek his fortune and when he retired in 1772 he was a wealthy plantation owner. Displays include a fine builder’s model of the sailing ship Watt dating from 1797 along with a painting by William Jackson (shown here). Richard Watt bought Speke Hall, Liverpool, in 1795. His descendant Adelaide Watt was the last member of the family to live at the Hall, which is now cared for by the National Trust.

Next week we look at slave trader James Penny of Penny Lane. In the meantime there is more on the history of the slave ship in a fascinating lecture by Marcus Rediker, available to listen to on our main site. In it he talks about the Brooks and conditions on it and other slave ships.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from www.merseyshop.com (£1.50 p&p UK).