The Bristol Tapestry Talk

Sheila Dawkins, who worked on the Bristol Tapestry in 1976, shares the story of the people whose passion project it was. The tapestry was conceived in the late 1960s by Mrs Jean Tanner and Mrs Marjorie Bleasedale to record important events from Bristol's past, and was completed by 1976 with the involvement of 90 local people using embroidery, appliqué and screen printing. Its four panels, totalling 22 metres, depict nearly 1000 years of history in 27 scenes, and it has been housed at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery since 1999. The talk also reflects on how the tapestry mirrors the time it was made, including how perspectives on Bristol's role in colonisation and the Transatlantic Traffic in Enslaved Africans have changed since. Talks last approximately 35 minutes.