Comings and goings of the slave ship Brookes:

Art as aesthetic political action in the appropriation of an icon of British abolitionism

Abstract

First made public in 1787 by the founder and greatest enthusiast of the British abolitionist movement Thomas Clarkson, the diagram of the slave ship Brookes became emblematic for the abolitionist struggles in the following century for revealing the inhuman conditions in which the enslaved were subjected on the ships slaves. By showing how they were organized, in order to get the most out of them in the smallest possible space, Clarkson exposed the rational and radical violence of the soul trade. The ship's image was reproduced several times in different contexts, especially in the fine arts. In this article we will analyze the works of Romuald Hazoumé and Rosana Paulino, questioning how artistic appropriations are capable of proposing a critical review of the image of the Brookes ship and the contradictions of the abolitionist discourse, radicalizing and updating the struggles against racism and other forms of domination, racial exploitation and violence at the present time.