Mind-Forg'd Manacles: William Blake and Slavery
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A Hayward Gallery Touring / British Museum Partnership UK exhibition.
The idea of slavery was fundamental to William Blake’s art and writing. He was fervently opposed to it, and during his own lifetime (1757 – 1827) spanned successful campaigns against the Atlantic slave trade, leading towards the abolition of slavery itself within the British domains in 1807.
But for Blake slavery was also a mental state. Limited perceptions and following conventional religion or science was akin to enslavement, to being held with ‘mind forg’d manacles’ of one’s own making. Blake represents these notions through the contorted body; mentally restricted figures are enclosed within themselves, while those free of mental shackles fly upwards like birds. The image of enslavement is associated above all with the 
suppression of sexual desire and the desire for unity, represented in Blake’s imagery by chained figures. Many of the most dramatic and complex images show a confrontation between the forces of repression and those seeking freedom.
This exhibition, drawn from the collections of the British Museum, was curated by David Bindman, art historian and editor of William Blake's illustrated books.
It consisted of approximately 64 works organised into five sections, taken from Blake’s watercolours, prints and illuminated books: The Cruelties of Slavery: Blake and Captain Stedman; The Little Black Boy and other black boys; Slavery as restricted vision; Chaining Desire; Throwing off the Chains.
Top image: William Blake, Urizen in chains, Plate 20 from The First Book of Urizen, 1794. Department of Prints & Drawings, The British Museum. Photo: © Copyright the Trustees of The British Museum.
Bottom image: William Blake, Young’s Night Thoughts, Night VII, Why not the Dragon’s subterranean Den for Man to howl in? 1796-7. Department of Prints & Drawings, The British Museum. Photo: © Copyright the Trustees of The British Museum.
Podcasts
MP3 files focusing on 16 works in the exhibition are available to download below.
These free podcasts feature accounts of slavery by writers including Olaudah Equiano and Captain Stedman, together with poems by William Blake, read by Richard Brimblecombe, Poppy Elliott and Tunde Euba.
(You may not copy, reproduce, edit, adapt, alter, republish, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the public, or otherwise use this audio in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use.)
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