Joy Gregory and Philip Miller : SEEDS OF EMPIRE: A Little Breeze

5 Jun-10 Jul 2021

Overview

SEEDS OF EMPIRE is a series of exhibition projects by the artist Joy Gregory and composer Phillip Miller. The work combines still and moving image, drawing, text, objects, sound to create an immersive installation. Emerging from Gregory’s extensive research on the slave trade and colonial histories in Jamaica, the work looks at documentation of slavery from 1492 to the present day. This includes visual and textual documentation from historical figures such as Hans Sloane (physicist, naturalist and collector whose vast collection made up the origins of The British Museum and The Natural History Museum), Maria Sibylla Merian, (naturalist, entomologist and botanical illustrator), and Chief Tomba (a Guinean resistance fighter against slavery). Inspired by Hans Sloane’s journal documenting his voyage to Jamaica, where he collected and examined plant specimens, the work considers the complex history of Jamaica; its plants, people, and fused cultures.