The World Reimagined Project at Rainford High
A selection of students from Rainford have taken part in The World Reimagined Project. This is a UK wide Art and History education project focusing on a better understanding of our shared histories.
The project launched within the Liverpool City region on the 13th August and will continue up to the 31st October 2022. This marked the launch of the globe trail and there will be a number of globes like the one that our students designed and created spread out across the Liverpool City region for people to discover.
The Rainford High globe was designed by students in Year 8 who started the project by researching the significance of St Helens and Liverpool in the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans. We discovered that our community was impacted in three main areas; maps and people, architecture, and products. As a result we decided to design our globe in three sections and on the top of the globe is a triangle which represents the triangular trade route. Many local roads are named after people associated with the trade in enslaved people. Our map on this part of the globe is entwined with a vine which signifies the hope that nothing like this would happen again and that we can learn from the past. We discovered that factories in St. Helens manufactured copper manilla bracelets which were used as currency to trade for the enslaved. Ships returning from the triangular trade route brought back cotton, sugar, tobacco and salt and this is depicted on the second section of the globe. Many iconic buildings in St. Helens and Liverpool are named after people involved in this trade. On this section of the globe, we designed images of these buildings around a ship’s steering wheel. Between the spokes of the wheel is an image of Carr Mill in St Helens. The silhouettes of the ship and slave trader signify these are from the past, whilst the rest is in colour. This use of silhouettes was inspired by the work of the African artist Kara Walker and the bright floral patterns and colour schemes were inspired by the work of Kehinde Wiley and Karobo Poppy Moltsane.
The globe created by the Rainford students can be found at Eccleston Community Library
Broadway, Eccleston, Saint Helens WA10 5PJ
For more information on the project please visit: The World Reimagined
