\u2018Hidden Histories\u2019 started life in Sunderland Museum& Winter Gardens as part of \u00a0the travelling exhibition and has since gone on a journey of its own.\u00a0The project involved MBC Ceramics\u2019 Emily Nolan telling stories to participants \u00a0about Sunderland\u2019s history of human rights and social justice (see examples\u00a0here<\/a>). The aim was \u00a0to inspire them to think and write about their own experiences. Their stories were placed inside a clay sphere which they handmade and each sphere was uniquely decorated to reflect the story inside. The\u00a0 spheres were then fired to look like cannonballs, a reference to the cannonball rocks found on Sunderland\u2019s beaches and maritime history.<\/p>\n The exhibition has been kindly hosted across the City of Sunderland College campuses, and it will soon go to Sunderland University\u2019s Interfaith Centre.<\/p>\n \u201cThe aim of this exhibition was to a give a platform to people who feel \u00a0voiceless in the city. It was a way for them to tell their stories and capture their struggles, so it is important we bring them to a wide audience. In Sunderland, we have connectivity issues where outlying areas often feel detached from the hubbub of the city centre. A touring exhibition\u00a0 is an excellent way of bringing together the narratives of people from across Sunderland,\u00a0 highlighting \u00a0how we are more connected than we might otherwise think. The cannonballs represent individual journeys to justice and when they are brought together they have a great power to drive positivity and change.\u201d<\/i> Journey to Justice Sunderland and\u00a0 MBC Ceramics partnered with pupils from Red House Academy to create the \u2018Ship of Souls\u2019 installation, with thanks to a grant from the Arts Council.<\/p>\n The project involved teaching pupils about the links between Sunderland, the slave trade, and its abolition. The students made ship planks out of clay, which they wrote on to express their response to learning about the city\u2019s history of slavery. They chose words like \u201cfreedom,\u201d \u201chumanity,\u201d \u201cequality,\u201d \u201cno to racism,\u201d and MBC Ceramics\u2019 Mark Burns Cassell put the planks together and fired them, to create a magnificent ship. Visitors are encouraged to reflect on how far we\u2019ve come in achieving equality, and how much still needs to be done.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way, so everyone is mixed now\u2026We study this history so we can understand more about it and people don\u2019t make the same mistake and can make changes.\u201d \u201cThe project has been brilliant for raising the students\u2019 self-esteem. They were really pleased when they saw it installed and could identify which planks they\u2019d done. On the back of the project we\u2019ve continued doing work around slavery and we\u2019ll move to the Civil Rights next, so it has really been the pivotal event of Year 8, well organised and well delivered.\u201d<\/i> The \u2018Ship of Souls\u2019 installation is housed at the Red House Academy, Sunderland, where it creates a lasting impression on all the students and staff who see it. For anyone interested in a viewing, please call Red House Academy Tel. 0191 511 1930 and ask to speak to the Principal\u2019s PA.<\/p>\n The \u2018Hidden Stories\u2019 project by Hollie Dearing is a photography exhibition\u00a0 created as part of \u00a0JtoJ Sunderland\u2019s programme. It features stunning portrait photos of and moving interviews with 10 people working in Sunderland to promote justice, equality and wellbeing. Happily, \u00a0the project is still touring \u00a0the city of Sunderland. It started in The Bridges Shopping Centre and moved to the Civic Centre:<\/p>\n \u201cThe JtoJ exhibition was up in Sunderland Civic Centre over the summer holidays. The exhibition has shown the diversity of our city and the passion people we have living and working on social justice every day! We thank the legacy of Journey to Justice in our city to continue the work as we continue to educate local people.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n \u2013 Jackie Nixon, Former Journey to Justice Sunderland Chair<\/b><\/p>\n Ceramicist Mark Burns Cassell with pupils of Red House Academy<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What happens when the travelling exhibition leaves town?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n In November 2016, the JtoJ travelling exhibition left Sunderland for Tower Hamlets , but the Journey to Justice legacy and spirit\u00a0 lives on. Lindsey Mullan,\u00a0 JtoJ Sunderland co-ordinator, says the exhibition \u201cserved as a reminder that although Sunderland lies in a small corner of the world, it is a city with a wealth of experience relating to social justice issues.\u201d<\/p>\n JtoJ Sunderland ran a number of projects with the local community during the time of the travelling exhibition including the production of wonderful art installations: \u2018Hidden Histories\u2019,\u00a0 \u2018Ship of Souls<\/a>\u2019 and \u2018Hidden …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3182,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3953"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3965,"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3953\/revisions\/3965"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"hiddenstories\"](\"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hiddenstories.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nLindsey Mullan, JtoJ Sunderland Coordinator<\/b><\/p>\n
\n<\/i>Vincent Hessel, Student<\/b><\/p>\n
\nSteve Newman, former Curriculum Lead for History, Red House Academy<\/b><\/p>\n![\"shipofsouls\"](\"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/shipofsouls.jpg\")