Book Description

The research has looked at how communities can open up and close down – offering freedom and sanctuary to those within its boundaries as well as those perceived as outsiders. Hull has historically been, as many port towns, a passage point for different communities, yet it recently voted overwhelming to leave the EU – closing its doors to the outside. This closing down of community – and notions of who belongs and who does not – also happened after the First World War and the Second World War, when poverty, loss and politics collided with a growth of right wing sentiment and fascism, putting little known repatriation campaigns on the agenda. Poverty, politics and survival have been a part of the story of Hull as much as wars, imperialism and trade have shaped the city. As in most cities, and especially ports, contradictions are numerous, and radical political activists and thinkers smatter the history of Hull leaving legacies that are often hard to understand and acknowledge. Cammock has brought together some of the voices that have come out of Hull's history to ask some questions about what freedom, liberty and openess means for a city, its people and culture, which have been so connected to the building of ships and global trade for centuries, into a visual collage using photography, video, printmaking, writing and performance.--Book Works website.