Here are excerpts from “The story behind… The Keeper of all the Secrets” (Royal Museums Greenwich) by Jamaican-born artist and poet Jacqueline Bishop. Bishop speaks to historian Stella Dadzie about the influences behind her ceramic artwork, now on display in the Queen’s House.
A healer, trader, preserver and transmitter of cultural knowledge: the role of the market woman has been central to Caribbean communities, but so often her importance has been overlooked.
Jacqueline Bishop wanted to explore the reasons behind this. The Jamaican-born artist and poet’s work centres on “making visible the invisible […] speaking aloud the unspoken and voicing voicelessness.” Her art engages with a myriad of themes, from exile and memory to sexuality and desire, and spans mediums including paintings and textiles.
Bishop’s piece The Keeper of All The Secrets has been acquired by Royal Museums Greenwich and is now on display in the Queen’s House. It reworks a traditional British tea service, using collages of Caribbean market women and botanicals to explore women’s agency and the legacies of empire and enslavement.
Her artistic practice has also been shaped by the work of Stella Dadzie. An award-winning historian, Dadzie is the author of books including A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance and Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain.
Here, the pair meet to discuss the inspiration behind The Keeper of All The Secrets, from the secret nature of the market woman’s work to enslaved women’s fight for bodily autonomy. Their full conversation can be viewed at the end of this article. [. . .]
Hidden figures: shining a light on the market woman
The market woman was originally an enslaved individual from West Africa who was central to Caribbean society, Bishop explains. “The market woman was the face of the Caribbean,” she says. “When we look at the market woman, we’re telling multiple stories at once: she carries on her head the history of the Atlantic World.” [. . .]
For full article and more information, see https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/art-culture/story-behind-keeper-all-secrets
[Photo above: Contemporary ceramic artwork The Keeper of all the Secrets has inspired this year’s program. Watch an interview with artist Jacqueline Bishop here.]