Futurecity were appointed by the City of London and Black British Heritage to curate a permanent sculpture to commemorate the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The resulting work is a unique collaboration by artist Michael Visocchi and poet Lemn Sissay.

The artwork is sited at Fen Court in the City of London, significant because of its proximity to St Mary Woolnoth Church – where anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce was inspired by the Rev John Newton’s powerful anti-slavery sermons.

Lemn Sissay’s poem responds to the sculpture. It skilfully weaves the coded language of the stock exchange floor with references to the story of Cain and Abel in the Old Testament, and to Wilberforce’s campaign.

Futurecity introduced award winning design agency Hat-trick to produce the graphic texts. They based their design on a typeface used in anti-slavery literature distributed around the Fen Court in the early 19th century.