The John Blanke Project: Reimagining the Black Tudor Trumpeter

An introduction to John Blanke and the John Blanke Project. John Blanke was the Black trumpeter to the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, the first person of Black African descent in British history for whom we have both a record and an image. He has become the poster boy for the Black presence at the court of Henry VII and Henry VIII. The John Blanke Project is a contemporary art and archive project celebrating John Blanke’s presence in British history through the works of artists, poets, rapper, photographers, playwrights and historians.

The Autumn Art Lecture series is hosted by the University of Bristol's Faculty of Arts, Law & Social Sciences with support from the Centre for Black Humanities and Bristol Ideas.

Autumn is here, and for this year’s Art Lectures we have partnered with the University of Bristol’s Centre for Black Humanities! Bringing together a rich chorus of speakers, our new series invites you to consider the potential for liberation offered by creativity in all its forms. Across five events that will take us from the unexpected intersections of hip hop and gardening to the history and legacies of the Tudor court musician, John Blanke, we will examine the threads of power, protest and art-making that weave together across the work of artists, writers and musicians. Join us as we move from Bristol's Central Library to the RWA’s garden and from the local Jungle scene to celebrated novelist Monique Roffey’s imaginary island of St Calibri to celebrate artistic expression that challenges, uplifts, and liberates.

Find out more about the other events in the Autumn Art Lectures 2024: Creation & Liberation series. If you have any questions about this event or the series as a whole, please contact [email protected].

Michael I. Ohajuru DUniv, FRSA

Art & Cultural Historian

https://about.me/michaelohajuru/

Michael I. Ohajuru Has an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University (2024), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (2022) Senior Fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (2014) with honours degrees in Physics (Leeds, 1974) and Art History (Open University, 2008). He retired in 2014 after a twenty-five-year career holding senior positions in international sales and marketing in the data and mobile communications industry, he lives in South London with partner the artist Ebun Culwin. He blogs, writes and speaks regularly on the black presence in Renaissance Europe, he has spoken at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the National Gallery, London Tate Britain, British Library, National Archives and the Victoria Albert Museum on the subject. Founder of a series of gallery tours highlighting the overt and covert black presences to be found in the national art collections in London. He is the Project Director and Chief Evangelist of : a contemporary Art and Archive project celebrating John Blanke the Black trumpeter to courts of Henry VII and Henry VII now in the permanent collections of National Portrait Gallery and National Archive. Michael was co-convener of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies series of workshops fostering a creative dialogue between researchers, educationalists (mainstream and supplementary), archivists and curators, and policy makers, a series of 10 workshops over five years and is a founder member of network, managing their podcast –

Photo of Michael by David VY Wallis ©.

Host or Publisher Faculty of Arts, University of Bristol