Cracks in the Curriculum Resource 4: Jacob V Joyce and Rudy Loewe, Sweet Rebellion

Jacob V Joyce and Rudy Loewe‘s Sweet Rebellion, responds to the histories of British sugar plantations and the black activism that contributed to their abolition. It uses art and storytelling to fill in the blanks and build on the narratives of resistance that have been hidden or erased. The resource is an invitation for History and Art teachers in Years 7–9 to rethink the ways we talk about colonialism and its legacy in schools.

The resource offers a series of activities, which look at the histories of rebellion on British Caribbean plantations through drawing, discussion, group investigations and further study. On the reverse is an illustration by Rudy Loewe and Jacob V Joyce, which depicts people who have resisted British colonial rule and injustice.

• How can we resist colonial ideas within the National Curriculum and reinsert Britain’s accountability?

• How did Britain build its wealth and how does Britain continue to profit from colonialism?

• How can drawing and storytelling be used as tools to make visible the people in history who fought for liberation from the slave plantations of the British Empire?

• What are the ways we can highlight colonialism as an ongoing issue that impacts people’s lives today?

• How can we collectively imagine a future beyond slavery and colonisation?

You can download a pdf version below or email jemmae@serpentinegalleries.org to request an A2 printed version that opens out to form a poster that can be displayed in your classroom.

Cracks in the Curriculum is a workshop series and publishing platform for teachers, which aims to bring artists and educators together to think about how to address pressing social issues in the classroom.

The Cracks in the Curriculum series explores key questions and themes that run through the Serpentine Education, Exhibition and Live programmes. The content for each resource emerges from workshops with artists, activists and educators.

Jacob V Joyce and Rudy Loewe are London-based visual artists working with drawing, mural painting, printmaking and self-publication. Afrofuturism, black histories, gender and sexuality are some of the key themes which connect their practices and reflect their experiences of being black, queer and non-binary in the UK. Both artists have a pedagogical and community focus in their work, and regularly lead workshops inside and outside of art institutions that are open to the public, as well as sessions for specific community groups. Their practices routinely amplify histories of resistance and nourish new queer and anti-colonial narratives.