Freedom! Sculpture Finds Permanent Home in New Slavery Museum

The Haitian Freedom! sculpture, commissioned by Christian Aid and National Museums Liverpool, has found its permanent home in the new International Slavery Museum, which opens on 23 August - the day Haitian slaves started their fight for freedom.

The museum will feature dynamic displays about the story of the transatlantic slave trade and its legacy addressing issues such as freedom, identity, human rights, racial discrimination and cultural change.

Haiti became the first independent black republic in 1804. Today, in part due to unfair terms of trade and hefty international debt repayments, it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. According to UN statistics 82 per cent of its rural population lives below the poverty line and 70 per cent of the population is unemployed.

Unfair trade rules make it impossible for local farmers to compete with food imports from richer countries. As a result many thousands flood into the cities to find jobs. But few find work and many resort to joining the armed gangs which dominate most of the slum areas.

The contemporary sculpture, made out of recycled objects such as metal car parts and raw junk found in the dangerous slums of the capital, Port-au-Prince, was created by Haitian artists Eugene, Celeur, Guydo and Mario Benjamin in collaboration with youth groups run by Christian Aid partner APROSIFA, which works with young people to give them an alternative to gang life and lobbies for basic education and health care.

Eugene, one of the sculptors said: "Haitians fought for their freedom many years ago, but that's not freedom if you don't have anything, no food, no electricity, no books and can't send your children to school. People in my country are fighting for this every day."

The sculpture has already received the support of Christian Aid's trade ambassador and award-winning actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah. He said: "The Freedom! sculpture is a reminder that art can ask the question that politicians sometimes cannot. The sculpture is here to say what we can do. We can send the message that we no longer want anywhere in the world to be enslaved by poverty and by unjust trade rules."

David Fleming, Director of National Museums Liverpool said: "This remarkable sculpture is an important work of art in its own right, but it also symbolises the links between the historic transatlantic slave trade and contemporary issues of freedom, enslavement and global inequalities. It is fitting that its permanent home will be in the International Slavery Museum, due to open on the anniversary of the revolution which created Haiti."

People are encouraged to take campaigning action at www.pressureworks.org to help change unfair international trade rules and debt terms as part of the fight for freedom and basic human rights today. For more information about the museum visit www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.