A sculpture capturing the role of women in a city’s textile trade has been unveiled this week.
The piece, entitled Standing In This Place, is located at the Green Heart, Nottingham, and was created by sculptor Rachel Carter alongside local history group Legacy Makers.
It depicts two women in period costume – an enslaved black woman working in the American cotton fields and a white woman in an East Midlands textile mill.
The life-sized statue is the first example of civic art of its kind in the UK and has been made possible after more than £250,000 was donated towards its cost.
Commissioned by the National Justice Museum, a spokesperson for Nottingham City Council said the authority was delighted to find space to permanently house the sculpture.
They added that fewer than 5% of Britain’s sculptures portray non-royal women, and that this new sculpture would help towards addresses that imbalance.
The piece was unveiled during a ceremony on Thursday, attended by a number of dignitaries.
‘Recognition and resilience’
Councillor Neghat Khan, leader of the city council, said she was proud the city was hosting the statue.
“This new sculpture is such a powerful physical representation of the important role that working-class women have played in the cotton industry, both here in Nottingham and further afield,” she said.
“We know how important the cotton and lace industries were to Nottingham’s rich history.”
Sculptor Rachel Carter added: “We have been on quite a journey to discover the history of slavery in our region,” she said.
“This sculpture will give representation to the under-represented and give voice and recognition to the contributions of thousands of unnamed women who were the driving forces behind the East Midlands cotton textile industry during industrialisation.”
Jenny Wizzard, from the Legacy Makers group, said the project highlighted the important economic, social, and cultural forced-labour contribution of people of African descent.
“Standing In This Place acknowledges the triumph of being; it sees the two women’s resilience while experiencing exploitation as enslaved Africans and as white women mill workers in an era that lay the foundations of the societies we now live in,” she said.
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