Exploring Caribbean WWII stories

Join Sweet Patootee Arts and the Old Royal Naval College Interpretation Team for a special free exhibition viewing and panel discussion. The evening talk will focus on the untold stories of the Second World War in the Caribbean.

The event on Thursday 12 November at 6pm, takes place the week after Remembrance Sunday (8 November) in the Old Royal Naval College’s Visitor Centre. Chaired by historian and writer Montaz Marché, it will examine archival silence, the power of oral testimony and how to champion stories that have gone untold.

The panel will discuss that the familiar story of Caribbean men and women who volunteered to come to Britain leaves out much of what happened in the Caribbean itself. Those events, they say, also shaped the history of the war, modern Britain and Black British heritage. The discussion will also explore Black experiences of the war and the mid-20th century from a Caribbean starting point.

Those attending will have the opportunity to view the film installation created by Sweet Patootee Arts and inspired by oral testimony. CORNWALLIS CLOTH, set in Barbados in 1942, follows Mrs Bonita Skeete (aka Bonny), a Black woman whose story operates as a metaphor for British Caribbean civil rights during the period of the Second World War. Through sparky banter with stirred up patriots, rebels, Black marketeers, and in-betweens, the film sheds light upon the 1942 U-boat attacks on the SS Cornwallis’, as well as war leaders, the fight for freedom, rationing, and the fate that befalls those found with looted Cornwallis cloth.

The film interweaves 3D sound design, performance, a soundtrack of calypso and archive montage to create a captivating and poetic Caribbean comedy melodrama vignette.

Sweet Patootee Arts said the Old Royal Naval College’s architecture reminded them of the buildings they had seen in the Caribbean, making it an ideal setting for ‘Bonny’s’ visit to the Governor’s house in the film.

“Meeting the Old Royal Naval College Interpretation Team sealed it for us and why we chose them as hosts for this project,” said, Tony T and Rebecca Goldstone, co-Artistic Directors of Sweet Patootee Arts. “We quickly forged an excellent collaboration and delivered a fantastic exhibition.”

Helen White, Senior Interpretation Manager at the Old Royal Naval College, said, “‘This project was an exciting undertaking, if not a little daunting. We worked to create an exhibition from a standing start with little previous knowledge of wartime experiences in the Caribbean. Access to image and archival resources from Imperial War Museums was very helpful. Extremely important and valuable were the insights that Sweet Patootee Arts were able to share with us from as yet unpublished research.”

Montaz Marché is a Research Fellow on the Valuable Lives Project at the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London. A historian and writer, she researches histories of gender and race in early modern and modern Britain and the British Atlantic World.

Booking is required to attend this free event. Book your place and find out more.

CORNWALLIS CLOTH was created and produced by Sweet Patootee Arts as part of the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund. This event is supported by a Royal Borough of Greenwich Black History 365 grant. The exhibition is open daily from 10am–5pm in the Visitor Centre.