Unearthing People of Colour In Sheffield's History With "Dig Where You Stand

Dig Where you Stand is an archival justice project that uses the arts to tell untold stories about the people of colour who have lived, worked and set down roots in South Yorkshire over hundreds of years. They have been doing this by exploring archival records, and using creative practices to reimagine the lives contained within them and sharing their stories within public exhibitions. In May 2023, Dig Where You Stand announced that they were commissioning emerging / mid-career artists to expand this work.

They invited 14 artists to dig into the Sheffield archives with the view to having a public exhibition in July 2024. They sought regional stories about working class people of colour from before 1945. This project will come alive between 20th July and 18th August with exhibitions of new work across five venues in Sheffield City Centre. We visited the archives to get more about this exceptional project which has uncovered black presence in our region going back as far as 1725. With support from our colleagues at Roots Mbili Theatre, we spoke to Desiree Reynolds, the Director of Dig Where You Stand, Najma Heybe and Rosa Cisneros who are artists that participated int the project. Archivists Cheryl Bailey and Tim Knebel from Sheffield Archives also joined us for detailed insights into this collaboration.