A dramatic, moving and internationally co-created art installation, 'The Three Sophias' - initially launched late last year - is returning to Lancashire church after a break for the Christmas period. 

And in a brand new video, just released on our Diocesan YouTube channel, the Vicar of Lancaster Priory, Rev. Leah Vasey-Saunders (pictured) speaks in depth about the project to Diocesan Communications Manager, Ronnie Semley. 

The installation was created to sit alongside a new publication and celebration of the second phase of the ‘Facing the Past’ initiative (funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund). 

The Priory will be open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm until January 31 for the public to view the sculptures. For more about getting to the Priory, visit this page of their website. 

‘Facing the Past’ is an arts and research programme to reflect, reveal and redress omissions in the way the City of Lancaster has commemorated its role as the fourth largest slavery port in the UK.

Newly-commissioned research by local historian Dr Melinda Elder of Lancaster University uncovered new black presences in Lancaster including that of Sophia Fileen. A group of school girls in Sierra Leone have now stepped across the centuries to imagine her life.

Visitors to the art installation can learn about ... 

• ...how ‘Facing the Past’ has listened to the public and responded to new heritage
• ...the commitment of individual partners to the initiative
• ...Facing the Past’s contribution so far to the racial justice landscape and local impact

Meanwhile, the difficult past of Lancaster Priory is explored in more depth in a further video released recently by our Diocesan Board of Education. Click here to watch it.

Rev. Leah, who is also a member of the ‘Facing the Past’ Steering Group says: “A significant part of the project was to commission research to understand the Priory’s complicity in transatlantic slavery.

"Local Historian, Dr Melinda Elder, recently uncovered new black lives in Lancaster including that of Sophia Fileen. Sophia, originally of Sierra Leone was baptised in Lancaster Priory on 15 February, 1799 and recorded as ‘a negro aged 11 years’ of Lancaster.

“In response, Facing the Past asked a group of 11 year-old school pupils in Sierra Leone to step across the centuries and across continents to imagine Sophia Fileen’s life.

“Working with Lancaster based movement practitioners and heritage professionals the pupils co-created responses, documented by a professional photographer in Sierra Leone.”

The aim, Rev Leah added, was to connect the youngsters to Sophia as a person - as a young girl with agency, strength, beauty and joy. This work has resulted in the beautiful 'Three Sophias' - the sculptures you can view at the Priory until the end of January. 

And what of the future? In the new video, Rev. Leah adds: "Jesus doesn't look for the status quo, He looks for the marginalised and calls them into community to help to transform it. As we move forward hopefully (our work) will involve some form of permanent memorialisation of the black lives we have discovered in our history."

• A reminder the Priory will be open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm until January 31 for the public to view the sculptures. For more about getting to the Priory, visit this page of their website. 

Ronnie Semley, January 2024