More than £250k raised to begin casting of statue

The statue depicts an enslaved black woman clasping hands with a white mill worker

More than £250,000 has been raised to begin the casting of a life-size bronze statue depicting an enslaved woman from American cotton fields and a woman working in an East Midlands textile mill.

A model of Standing in This Place - an artwork of two women holding hands - will be placed in Nottingham's Broad Marsh Green Heart park in early 2025.

Casting of the bronze piece has started at the Pangolin Editions sculpture foundry in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Sculptor Rachel Carter said: “We have been on quite a journey to discover the history of slavery in our region."

Alongside Ms Carter, the statue has been created by the Legacy Makers community group, which works to highlight the links the 18th and 19th Century East Midlands cotton industry had with slavery.

Funding has come from a range of supporters, including the Nottingham Civic Society, the Art Fund, Sir Harry Djanogly CBE, Nottingham Regeneration Limited Trust, Gedling Borough Council and many others.

Models posed in front of cameras as part of the process of creating the statue

The National Justice Museum will be the custodians of the sculpture, which is the first piece of public art it has acquired.

The museum added it would be the UK’s first sculpture to recognise this transatlantic story as well as addressing that less than 5% of Britain’s sculptures portray non-royal women.

Ms Carter said: "This sculpture will give representation to the under-represented and give voice and recognition to the contributions of thousands of unnamed women who were the driving forces behind the East Midlands cotton textile industry during industrialisation."

Bev Baker, the senior curator and archivist for the National Justice Museum, said: “We are extremely grateful for the support from donors towards making this unique public sculpture a reality."