The Luxborough Galley on Fire, 25 June 1727, John Cleveley the Elder (c. 18th Century)
EMPIRE LINES10 Marras 2022

The Luxborough Galley on Fire, 25 June 1727, John Cleveley the Elder (c. 18th Century)

Dr. Helen Paul bursts the South Sea Bubble, tracing the triangular trade of slavery between London and Britain's colonies in South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, via John Cleveley's 18th century painting, The Luxborough Galley on Fire.

Sailing into the dark green waters of the mid-Atlantic Ocean, the Luxborough Galley is in imperilled. Consumed by flames, with no land in sight, its white passengers frantically firefight - to no avail. Commissioned by one of the ship's few survivors for display in Greenwich, John Cleveley's six oil paintings recast the story as one of British heroism - erasing the history of the South Sea Company's colonial profiteering, catastrophic South Sea Bubble of 1720, and scapegoating its enslaved Black passengers for carelessly causing the blaze. Still housed in the National Maritime Museum, on the southern bank of the River Thames, John Cleveley’s rendering exposes London's vast investment into the international slave trade, linking British colonies across the world. By focussing on cannibalism, it unintentionally commemorates the inhumanity, lack of civislisation, and crimes against humanity committed by its white colonial benefactors.

PRESENTER: Dr Helen Paul, lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton, and Honorary Associate Professor at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at UCL.

ART: The Luxborough Galley on Fire, 25 June 1727, John Cleveley the Elder (c. 18th Century).

IMAGE: 'The 'Luxborough Galley' on fire, 25 June 1727'.

SOUNDS: One Man Book.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.


Follow EMPIRE LINES at: twitter.com/jelsofron/status/1306563558063271936

Support EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: patreon.com/empirelines

Jaksot(166)

It Should Not Be Forgotten, Elsa James (2025) (EMPIRE LINES Live at Firstsite Colchester)

It Should Not Be Forgotten, Elsa James (2025) (EMPIRE LINES Live at Firstsite Colchester)

In this special episode, contemporary artist Elsa James joins EMPIRE LINES live, navigating how the slave ship marks and haunts Black lives in Britain today, in their interdisciplinary exhibition, It ...

21 Elo 20251h 2min

Love (Warbler Remix), Hanna Tuulikki (2025) (EMPIRE LINES x Folkestone Triennial 2025)

Love (Warbler Remix), Hanna Tuulikki (2025) (EMPIRE LINES x Folkestone Triennial 2025)

Artist Hanna Tuulikki traces the migration route of the Marsh Warbler, a bird that mimics and remixes the songs of European and Afrotropical species it meets, across the English Channel to Kent.Throug...

7 Elo 202516min

The Dhaba, Alia Syed (2025) (EMPIRE LINES Live at CCA Glasgow)

The Dhaba, Alia Syed (2025) (EMPIRE LINES Live at CCA Glasgow)

In this special episode, filmmaker and contemporary artist Alia Syed joins EMPIRE LINES live, to weave together their works in moving image, photography, and oral history, and reflect on personal expe...

24 Heinä 202558min

A Cutting: Stone Portals, Leo Robinson (Ongoing) (EMPIRE LINES Live at SEEDLINGS, The Hunterian)

A Cutting: Stone Portals, Leo Robinson (Ongoing) (EMPIRE LINES Live at SEEDLINGS, The Hunterian)

Find out more about Leo Robinson’s relations to African and Caribbean cosmologies, and worldbuilding through play, with Stone Portals (Ongoing), now part of ⁠⁠SEEDLINGS: Diasporic Imaginaries⁠⁠, curat...

17 Heinä 20254min

A Cutting: Kinnomic Botany: Freeing the Potato from its Scientific and Colonial Ties, Iman Datoo (2022) (EMPIRE LINES Live at SEEDLINGS, Invasion Ecology)

A Cutting: Kinnomic Botany: Freeing the Potato from its Scientific and Colonial Ties, Iman Datoo (2022) (EMPIRE LINES Live at SEEDLINGS, Invasion Ecology)

Find out more about Iman Datoo’s installation, Kinnomic Botany (2022), now part of ⁠SEEDLINGS: Diasporic Imaginaries⁠, curated by Jelena Sofronijevic with Travelling Gallery in Scotland.The group exhi...

10 Heinä 20254min

Kern, Amba Sayal-Bennett (2024) (EMPIRE LINES Live at SEEDLINGS, Somerset House Studios)

Kern, Amba Sayal-Bennett (2024) (EMPIRE LINES Live at SEEDLINGS, Somerset House Studios)

In this special episode, contemporary artist Amba Sayal-Bennett joins EMPIRE LINES live, to trace the migrations of rubber seeds between South America, London, and British colonies in South Asia in th...

26 Kesä 202538min

Sweet & Sour, Hrair Sarkissian (2021-2022) (EMPIRE LINES x Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Lisson Gallery)

Sweet & Sour, Hrair Sarkissian (2021-2022) (EMPIRE LINES x Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Lisson Gallery)

Conceptual photographer Hrair Sarkissian moves between Syria, Armenia, and Turkey, capturing present absences in personal and political histories in the 20th and 21st centuries.Hrair Sarkissian uses p...

12 Kesä 202515min

Palimpsest: Tales Spun From Sea And Memories, Billy Gerard Frank (2019) (EMPIRE LINES Live at PEACE FREQUENCIES, St James’s Church, Paxton House)

Palimpsest: Tales Spun From Sea And Memories, Billy Gerard Frank (2019) (EMPIRE LINES Live at PEACE FREQUENCIES, St James’s Church, Paxton House)

Contemporary artist Billy Gerard Frank explores the deep connections between Grenada, Scotland, and England, following the life and legacies of Ottobah Cugoano in their film, Palimpsest: Tales Spun Fr...

29 Touko 202546min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

sita
olipa-kerran-otsikko
kaksi-aitia
hupiklubi
i-dont-like-mondays
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
ihme-ja-kumma
uutiscast
poks
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
rss-murhan-anatomia
mamma-mia
aikalisa
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
mystista
terapeuttiville-qa