The Ghost Meridian

At the Prime Meridian – the line of longitude defined to be 0° – hangs a ghostly sail on the Cutty Sark’s mast. Ghosts are usually associated with folk tales, far from human discovery and science. But for the wretched – the victims of violence and atrocities – adopting the demeanour of a spirit is often the only way to be present within an overwhelmingly scientific world. A world that was first tailored to British interests and fuelled by the suffering and grief of others. And usually, it's the only way for unresolved pain to surface from the depths of repression.

From Greenwich, time was realised and regulated from an observatory. Imaginary borders were drawn across the globe, and our earth was split into time zones. The white ivory statues and palaces have us believe that this was for the good of humanity. For its unity, for its development and for every ‘corner of a foreign field that is forever England’. Occupations, slave ships, opium wars, colonial expeditions, are overlooked with Union Jacks. Through maritime adventures, Britain shaped the world in its own image. When we look at clocks to tell the time, when we look at maps to find our homes, we tread on a world that was measured before us. However, the consequences of this drawn and divided world are suffered by millions. Migrants, families, communities traverse across seas and time zones, fleeing violently-drawn borders, searching for a new home.

BLKBRD Collective