In 2024 Dig Where You Stand was commissioned to explore the overlooked Black lives that have passed through Wentworth Woodhouse. We focused on six Black servants from 1721 - 1864. Their names are Thomas Blake, George Senegal, Henry Fryday, Romulus & Remus and Thomas Spriggs. Our knowledge of each person is limited. We are bound by what is contained in archival documents, such as wills and account books. What we do know is that there was a group of Black men living and working in Rotherham in the 18th Century. A significant finding. Not only because these are some of the earliest African descended people in South Yorkshire, but also because they form one of the first Black communities in the region. Some of the historical details are shared below:

‘Sheffield’s Africa’ responds to the attitude of 20th Century Britain towards the African diaspora. Photography.

One of the first Somali women in Sheffield arrives in 1956. A fictional audio recording captures her working life.

A Chinese baby is born and dies in Sheffield in 1855. At just 5 weeks old he’s buried at St Paul’s, now the site of the Peace Gardens. A processional street performance honours him and other ancestors from South and South-East Asian communities.

'Nigeria Says No' is inspired by a 1909 article lamenting the fact that colonial Britain couldn't get Ibadan in Nigeria to drink enough article, unlike it states it can in Barnsley. Photography.

Joe Philips is a steel worker in Sheffield who, in 1971, builds a boat that he hopes will take him back to Jamaica. Shadow puppets and film.

A train commissioned by the Japanese Government was built by Yorkshire Engine Co., Meadow Hall Works in 1871. Multimedia artist Seiko Kinoshita has created and installed six banners to capture this unlikely connection between Japan and Sheffield.

Lucretia Smith and Mathilde Boswell were buried at St Mary’s Churchyard in Beighton, 1844. A screendance and poem memorialises their lives.

Edgar Jessop Smith, the troubled son of a famous African American tragedian, struggles to settle in Sheffield. A visual poem explores this psychodrama.

Inspired by the known and unknown Black servants of Wentworth Woodhouse, Rotherham, during the Georgian era. Print plate materials: braided synthetic hair, pineapple leaves, hessian string, cardboard.

An old Jamaican man contemplates his life in Britain. A short story read by its author.

A Sikh woman, who lived down Sheldon Road, Sheffield, is discovered and obscured in the 1939 census. A poem and audio recording captures her haunting.

The journey from Nigeria to Sheffield and all the colours in between. A tapestry of silk dupion, organza, silk threads and soluble fabric.

In 1820 a Sheffield born quaker purchases the freedom of two African men, Sandanee and Mahmadee. An epic narrative poem reimagines their story.

Two French horn playing footmen, Romulus and Remus, were ‘gifted’ when they were around 16 to Lady Rockingham (who had a stately home in Rotherham) in 1776. This is a mixed media charcoal portrait adorned with a collage of lokta textures. 45cm x 55cm.

‘Exposure’ is a reimagining of Eileen Binney, sister to boxing legend Albert Binney, living in Sheffield from the 1920s onwards. Photography.

A Sikh woman, who lived down Sheldon Road, Sheffield, is discovered and obscured in the 1939 census. A poem captures her haunting.