Gladstone statue in Bow

London is constantly changing, so how can the vibrant and diverse communities of the city tell new stories about the statues of historic figures we see every day?

Project Phakama’s New Histories, supported by the Mayor of London’s Untold Stories programme, is a community project inspired by statues from Britain’s colonial past.

Theatre artists, academics, historians, local communities and young people have come together to explore how people feel about statues in their area.

The Gladstone statue in Bow The statue of William Gladstone, the Liberal politician and former Prime Minister of the UK, stands in front of the iconic Bow Church in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
Gladstone’s statue has been a longstanding contentious issue in Bow. It was allegedly paid for by money taken from the wages of local factory workers and Gladstone’s outstretched hand has been mysteriously painted red as a reminder of this unwilling sacrifice. In addition, the politician’s father was the chairman of the Liverpool West India Company, one of the largest slave traders in the British West Indies. Alternative stories This area of east London is now one of the most diverse in the whole city, and the UK. So, people living in the area local to the statue were given the opportunity to offer alternative stories and narratives to give new layers of meaning to the figure. Project Phakama worked in partnership with Applied Stories, a digital production company specialising in place-based audio drama to lead discussions with Project Phakama’s large network of young people from east London. Together they created vibrant audio stories that celebrate the people living in Bow today.