Commissioned for the Fitzwilliam Museum’s exhibition, Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance, this short film delves into Jacqueline Bishop’s plate series, History at the Dinner Table.

“I work in ceramics because all the women around me as I grew up - my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother - cherished ceramic dinner plates. These were centrepieces kept in one of their most important acquisitions, a specially made mahogany cabinet.”

The china dishes of Jacqueline’s childhood were painted with bright, cheerful images of palaces and carriages and only used on special occasions. However, as beautiful and charming as these dishes were, they often hid a violent history of slavery. Jacqueline’s own research into these ceramics led her to slavery and sugar.

With History at the Dinner Table, Jacqueline reframes the history of the bone-china dishes she grew up with, bringing the legacy of slavery to the surface with collaged images from historical postcards, natural history paintings, and illustrated publications.

This short documentary will be shown alongside Jacqueline’s plate series at the Fitzwilliam Museum until 7 January 2024.