Race equality champion Lord Woolley visits LJMU-curated exhibition of Jamaican art

Pictured L-R: Paul Pearson, Theresa Roberts, Emma Roberts, Lord Woolley  

Race equality champion and House of Lords crossbencher, Simon Woolley (Lord Woolley of Woodford), was this week a special guest at the LJMU-curated Jamaica Making exhibition.

It is the first exhibition of wholly Jamaican art to be displayed in North-West England and has been curated by Dr Emma Roberts, Associate Dean for Global Engagement for the Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies at LJMU. 

Featuring more than thirty artworks from the extensive collection of Jamaican-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Theresa Roberts, the exhibition ends this Saturday 9 July after a five-month run at the Victoria Gallery & Museum in Liverpool.

Dr Emma Roberts said: “It was an absolute pleasure and an honour to meet Lord Woolley and to show him around the exhibition in its final days.

“Theresa and I felt that it was important for him to see the exhibition as he is renowned for his work on attaining equality for all. He was delighted that the exhibition is opening eyes to Jamaica's political history and to the wealth of art that has been made since Jamaican Independence sixty years ago.”

Lord Woolley was formerly an Equality and Human Rights Commissioner and in 2018 was appointed by Theresa May to create and lead the UK Government’s pioneering Race Disparity Unit. The Unit collects, analyses, and publishes data on how crime, education, and health are affected by ethnicity.

Simon Woolley was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2019 and was created a life peer in December of the same year. He sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.

People can view the exhibition at the Victoria Gallery & Museum until 5pm on Saturday 9 July 2022.

Dr Roberts has also edited an accompanying exhibition book, and written the main essay therein, which is available through the Liverpool University Press and Victoria Gallery and Museum.