“This piece reveals the brutal violence, dehumanisation and exploitation that produced one of Hertfordshire's most treasured heritage objects - the St Albans 'Brazilian' Straw Hat. The harvesting and importation of raw palm leaves, like many other commodities produced in the Caribbean, rapidly developed Britain's 18th and 19th-century industrial era. Depicting brutal objects of punishment and torture enforced on enslaved Africans, this work speaks to one of the many unacknowledged legacies of the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans in Britain.”
Jahnavi Inniss
The Making of the St Albans 'Brazilian' Hat
Jahnavi Inniss, The Making of the St Albans 'Brazilian' Hat (2025)
Appliqué and hand-embroidered textile