The black artisans - part of
we gather at the Crafts council

The Black Artisans featured as part of  Craft Council's newest exhibition - We Gather - from 17 November – 12  March  2022, highlighting five female artists of Black and Asian heritage.

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The exhibition showcased a selection of portraits of female artisans from The Black Artisans photographic project by Jo Sealy.  The exhibition celebrates Black artisans in traditional sectors of UK heritage crafts and gives visibility to making practices derived from African and Caribbean cultural heritage, including steel pan making and calabash art.

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The We Gather exhibition came out of Craft Expertise, the AHRC-funded UKRI/RCUK Innovation Fellowship led by Dr Karen Patel of Birmingham City University, in collaboration with Crafts Council. In particular the first report Making Changes in Craft.  Dr Patel's research aimed to raise awareness of inequalities in the contemporary craft economy in the UK and highlight the various challenges faced by women of colour in the sector.

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