Cornwallis Cloth | Exhibition in the Visitor Centre

About

Cornwallis Cloth is a brand-new film created and produced by Sweet Patootee Arts as part of the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund.Inspired by oral testimony and the untold stories of British Caribbean lives during the Second World War, this 20-minute film explores loyalty and freedom and investigates emerging post-colonial identity with dramatic intensity and satirical humour.
Set in a moonlit tropical garden in Barbados in 1942, the film centres around Mrs Bonita Skeete (aka Bonny), a Black woman whose story operates as a metaphor for British Caribbean civil rights during the period of the Second World War. Through sparky banter with stirred up patriots, rebels, Black marketeers, and in-betweens, the film sheds light upon the 1942 U-boat attacks on the SS Cornwallis', as well as war leaders, the fight for freedom, rationing, and the fate that befalls those found with looted Cornwallis cloth. The film interweaves 3D sound design, performance, a soundtrack of calypso and colonial anthems, and archive montage to create a captivating and poetic Caribbean comedy melodrama vignette. The film installation will be presented alongside an exhibition at the Old Royal Naval College exploring the wider themes of the film, and the rich historical significance of uncovering the stories of the past.