The Wake – A Roundtable Discussion: Manchester’s Competing Histories

Join us for a thought-provoking roundtable discussion inspired by Holly Graham’s exhibition The Warp / The Weft / The Wake, exploring the often-overlooked histories that have shaped Manchester. Reflecting on two competing visions of Manchester’s past – a tension present in the exhibition – this event will delve into the city’s entanglement with colonialism and the transatlantic slave economy, and how these legacies continue to shape its present.

Through an overview of the exhibition and the research behind it, participants will be invited to critically engage with Manchester’s past, question mainstream narratives, and reflect on how we inherit, remember, and re-examine the history of the city.

Programmed and hosted by Global Threads researchers Destinie Reynolds, Serena Robinson, and Ella Sinclair, this closed session opens a space for them to share insights from their work supporting Holly’s exhibition by recovering lives, experiences, and connections to the funding of today’s Manchester Art Gallery and spark new conversations with Manchester residents about what could, should, or might come next.

About the contributors:

Destinie Reynolds is a penultimate year undergraduate student in History and Spanish at the University of Manchester. She focuses on race in modern Britain, considering how the Black community used space to navigate the post-Windrush hostile environment. She has worked on other projects including, the Windrush Scandal in its National and Commonwealth contexts with the Institute of Historical Research and a collaborative project with the Royal Exchange Theatre and the Race Roots Resistance collective as an Emerging Scholar.

Serena Robinson is Senior Researcher at Runnymede Trust. With research expertise in race and gender she has particular interest in intersectionality, migration and race and place. Serena has explored gender and race through a historical lens via Sarah Parker Remond and her visit to Manchester in 1859 to highlight the power of Black women throughout history.

Ella Sinclair is a writer, researcher, and communications professional based in London. Her work covers history, politics, race, and racism, and is broadly committed to social justice. She has written for publications including the Guardian, The Voice, The Lead, gal-dem, Cosmopolitan, Shado-Mag and WritersMosaic. Sinclair also works as a researcher on public history research projects engaging with British legacies of transatlantic slavery and colonialism, designed to amplify under-represented parts of Britain’s history. She has contributed to exhibitions at Manchester Art Gallery, and a major project with the city’s historic Portico Library. Sinclair is currently contributing to another upcoming exhibition at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum, both as a researcher and in an advisory capacity. She also works as a communications professional, raising the profile of nonprofits, and arts, and culture.

Holly Graham is a London-based artist and researcher, whose work looks at ways in which memory and narrative shape collective histories. Recent projects include commissions with: Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester (2025); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2025); TACO!, London (2021-25); UP Projects & Barnet Council, London (2024); and Locales, Rome (2023). Holly is an Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London; and is Co-Founder of Cypher BILLBOARD, London. She was awarded a Sainsbury Scholarship at the British School at Rome for 2023, and is currently undertaking a PhD with CREAM, University of Westminster.

This event is part of Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities, taking place 6–15 November 2025. Being Human is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see .

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