COLCHESTER.- A new exhibition at Firstsite in Colchester poses questions about black identity in Essex, asking in particular how African Caribbean cultures can be upheld.

Black Girl Essex includes three film works—Forgotten Black Essex, 150 Lies Myths and Truths and Goat Curry and Rap—by British African-Caribbean artist, producer and activist Elsa James. Based in Southend-on-Sea, Elsa’s work focuses on opinions held towards people of African Caribbean heritage and the stereotyping of Essex women.

Elsa says, “Talking about race, inequality, visibility, representation and ‘blackness’ in Britain is an impassioned discussion I have been having since—well since as far back as I can remember! I can recall countless upsetting stories that I overheard as a child of my Windrush generation parents discussing with my aunts and uncles about the blatant everyday racism and unfairness they would encounter. Later I would encounter institutional racism with my school years spanning the 1970s through to the mid-1980s. A tragic consequence of my childhood in 1970’s Britain, was that my sisters and I played ‘Let’s be white girls’ to escape from our realities. These discussions haven’t stopped and I continue to have them on a regular basis with trusted friends and family.”

Goat Curry and Rap was created in 2010 as a response to a Spectator column written by Rod Liddle that stated "The overwhelming majority of street crime, knife crime, gun crime, robbery and crimes of sexual violence in London is carried out by young men from the African-Caribbean community. Of course, in return, we have rap music, goat curry and a far more vibrant and diverse understanding of cultures, which were once alien to us. For which, many thanks." The video sees Elsa eat Curried Goat while listening to blaring rap music, pausing intermittently to stare confrontationally at the camera.

Forgotten Black Essex is a two channel video piece that relates the historical accounts of three different black women whose stories have been unearthed from our national archives. House slave Hester Woodley - arrived in Harlow from St Kitts in the 18th century and her granddaughter (also named Hester), and a woman from Senegal, known as Princess Dinubolu, who came to Southend in 1908, to enter a beauty pageant competition and whose story provoked a national frenzy. The women spent time in Essex; however, their stories have shifted into the realms of the county’s ‘forgotten black past’.

Black Girl Essex is the first presentation in a reconceived space at Firstsite called The Living Room, which for the next 3 years will also be a working studio—a site not only for the presentation of art and exhibitions, but also their making. Drawing on the architect Rafael Viñoly’s shared vision for the gallery surrounding the Berryfield Mosaic to be ‘Colchester’s sitting room’, visitors will be able to directly influence Firstsite’s exhibitions through meeting artists, researching artworks and designing projects.

Over the course of the project Elsa will be ‘in residence’ at Firstsite, developing new artwork through a programme of open discussions with local black communities. These artworks will explore past and contemporary experiences relating to race and gender. They will be shown at Firstsite in October 2019, in the first exhibition Firstsite organises as part of The Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme, alongside works from the collection curated by people from the local black community of Colchester and Essex.

Sally Shaw, Firstsite Director says, “Firstsite’s artistic programme draws on Colchester and Essex’s radical past. By calling the exhibition ‘Black Girl Essex’ Elsa is playing with the stereotype of the ‘Essex girl’, which characterises young women from Essex as unintelligent, promiscuous, and materialistic. The idea of a ‘black Essex’ to Elsa, feels like a radical proposition. We’re delighted Elsa is going to be the first resident of ‘The Living Room’ and cannot wait to see the artworks that emerge from her time spent with us at Firstsite.”