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Join us to hear from two women who designed patterns for fabrics made in Manchester for export to Ghana and Nigeria from the 1960s onwards. Margaret Hickson and Ann worked on beautiful batik, floral and other designs inspired and informed by African decorative arts. They will bring their pattern books, material and designs to show how commissions were made to shimmer in the West African sunshine.

This event will explore objects related to Manchester’s fashion and fabric industry and makes us think Manchester’s place in the world and how we shape our spaces, especially in light of our current exhibition Brick by Brick: Architectures of potential.

It is chaired by Portico Drector (trustee) Kevin Dalton-Johnson, who is an internationally commissioned artist who created Lancaster’s Captured Africans, the first public sculpture at a UK quayside to memorialise enslaved Africans. Currently Kevin is engaged in education research at Manchester Metropolitan University and as Creative Impact Lead for the Runnymede Trust’s Race, Inclusion and Representation in Visual Arts and Arts Education project, commissioned by the Freelands Foundation.