Unravelling History: Leamington Art Gallery
Image by carolyngifford
Two of Annabel Rainbow’s quilts feature Benjamin Zephaniah, who died in December 2023 aged 65. He described himself as a poet, novelist, musician and actor – and also dyslexic. He performed his poetry ‘because it doesn’t have to be word perfect’ but at literary festivals his novels are read out by an actor. His mother arrived here from Jamaica in 1957. In spite of being hit with a brick when he was eight and told, “Go home, you black bastard” he believes racism is less evident now – or was until the Brexit vote. Since then he had been called the n-word and told ‘The Eastern Europeans are leaving and you’re next’. He saw himself as a spiritual person: “I don’t think we have a spirit. I think we are a spirit with a body attached”.