Brookes (Revisited) - A talk by Elgin Cleckley

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In collaboration with The Centre for the study of the Legacies of British Slavery

In this talk Elgin Cleckley will outline his journey to developing Brookes (Revisited), an installation/exhibition that accurately humanizes the iconic drawing Stowage of the British Slave Ship Brookes under the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788 through models, drawings, and interactives. Cleckley, an architect, designer, educator, and visual artist, will detail how the work melds art, architecture, history, and storytelling, incorporating three decades of research and compiled data.

Brookes (Revisited) will allow viewers of all backgrounds to consider, imagine, and discuss the reality of the Middle Passage by critically analysing the visuals used in 1788, making new connections to today’s urgent realities of over-surveillance, incarceration, migration, and racial justice. The work will exhibit in national and global locations beginning in 2024.

Elgin Cleckley, NOMA, is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and Design with an appointment in the School of Education and Human Development and the School of Nursing. He is the Director of Design Justice at UVa’s Equity Center, and the principal of _mpathic design, a multi-award-winning pedagogy, initiative, and professional practice. After studying architecture at the University of Virginia (’93) and Princeton University (’95), he collaborated with DLR Group (Seattle), MRSA Architects (Chicago), and Baird Sampson Neuert Architects (Toronto) on award-winning civic projects.

                 Credit: Sneha Patel

Elgin was the 3D Group Leader and Design Coordinator at the Ontario Science Centre (Toronto), Science Content and Design Department, and Agents of Change Initiative (2001-2016). This work produced the world’s first museum/design thinking architectural space (the Weston Family Innovation Centre - WFIC).

Elgin is a recipient of UVa’s Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award (the highest teaching award an Assistant Professor can receive at the University), UVa’s Distinguished Public Scholar Award, and the Armstead Robinson Faculty Award. He has received three Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Awards, nominated for a State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, receiving a US Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award, Campus Compact Virginia’s Community Engagement Award, and an AIA Virginia Award.

His scholarship received a Dumbarton Oaks Mellon Fellowship in Urban Landscape Studies / Harvard University, supporting the development of his forthcoming 2023 book with Island Press, _mpathic design, supported by an NEA Grant. Elgin’s scholarship is a recipient of arts fellowships from MacDowell, Loghaven, Art Omi, Good Hart, and the Anderson Center.

Doors will open at 5:45pm, and the talk will begin at 6:00pm in the Lecture Theatre of the National Maritime Museum. The event will be followed by a reception where wine and soft drinks will be available.