Ros Martin

Ros Martin (born 1960s) is a British playwright, poet, performance artist, curator and activist, based in Bristol. She is a founder member of the Bristol Black Women's Writers Group (2002–2005) and "Our Stories Make Waves" (OSMW) and Speakeasy South West, the latter two both associations of African diaspora artists in creativity.[1][2] She was a member of the Bristol Black Writers Group.[3]

Ros Martin
Born1960s
London, England
Occupation(s)Playwright, poet, performance artist and activist
Notable workDaughters of Igbo Woman
RelativesOrlando Martins (uncle)
Websiteolawalearts.org.uk/about-me/

Biography

Born in London, England, Ros Martin is second-generation British, her parents being from Nigeria and Saint Lucia.[2] Her uncle was pioneering Yoruba Nigerian film and stage actor Orlando Martins (1899–1985), and she has been researching and developing material in connection with his life.[4][5]

She is the artistic director of the Daughters of Igbo Woman Project, "a transnational digital installation comprising a trilogy of literary films made in (UK, Nigeria & Nevis respectively)".[6] In 2017, responding to Bristol’s transatlantic slavery legacy by evoking the voices of three generations of women from one family separated by the Atlantic ocean. The films were made in collaboration with Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo and Vida Rawlins. Martin voiced Fanny Fumnanya Coker, maidservant at the Georgian House, Bristol, Rawlins voiced Coker's mother, Adaeze (or Black Polly), and Eziegbo voiced Fanny's grandmother, Ojiugo in Igbo.[7][8] Also in 2017, Martin created a memorial event and video in Greenbank Cemetery to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Fanny Coker's birth.[9]

Publications in which Martin's writings appear include Marginalia (Volume 2 of Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Scheme anthology)[10] No Condition is Permanent, 19 Poets on Climate Justice and Change (Platform, 2010),[11] and the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[12]

Martin has been a driving force behind the "Countering Colston" campaign group, an anti-racist, pro-equity collective working to decolonise Bristol, including addressing ways in which the city has for centuries honoured Edward Colston,[13] who was a slave trading merchant in the 17th century.[14][15] Among initiatives for which she campaigned was the renaming of Colston Hall[16][17] (now Bristol Beacon),[18] which came about in September 2020.[19]

On 25 January 2021, Martin was one of four protesters arrested by the police for peacefully demonstrating outside Bristol magistrates court in support of the "Colston Four", the three men and a woman accused – and cleared at trial – of toppling the statue of Edward Colston during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.[20] Martin had chalked the words "Let Justice Prevail" on the pavement outside the steps of the court.[21] Avon and Somerset Police subsequently apologised for the protest ban, accepting that they had misinterpreted the regulations and that the arrests were unlawful.[22][23][24]

Martin is the author of the 2022 book Before I Am Rendered Invisible – Resistance From The Margins, a volume of spoken word, social commentary, play, essay and memoir that "throws a harrowing spotlight on issues behind racial inequality".[25] She has said: "'Before I Am Rendered Invisible' is a personal archive of performance writings that chart black struggle and resistance in Bristol and beyond, in spoken word, play, public chalk events, social commentary and memoir. In 'Before I Am Rendered Invisible', I am remembering, I am giving space, affording time, giving voice to the little people’s lives, to events that have mattered to me, that have provoked me, whilst living and working in Bristol. I am countering the silence, bringing to the fore and celebrating marginalised lives of struggle and resistance."[26]

Selected works
  • 2013: Return of the Vanishing Peasant (stage play), with Denise Ferreira da Silva[3]
  • 2016: Being Rendered Visible in the Georgian House Museum, Bristol[27]
  • 2022: Before I Am Rendered Invisible – Resistance From The Margins, Arkbound, ISBN 9781912092468.[28]

References
  1. "Ros Martin". National Association of Writers in Education. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  2. "Ros Martin". A Wing A Prey A Song. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  3. "Curriculum Vitae". Olawale Arts. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  4. "Ros Martin". Bristol 2014 | The City and Conflict: From the First World War to the Present Day. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  5. "What's Happening in Black British History? IV - Ros Martin". Institute of Commonwealth Studies. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2023 – via YouTube.
  6. "Daughters of Igbo Woman". Daughters of Igbo Woman. 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  7. "Daughters of Igbo Woman". The Georgian House Museum. August 2017.
  8. "Film screening: Daughters of Igbo Woman". Bristol Old Vic. October 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  9. "Fanny Coker memorial tribute Aug 2017 Greenbank cemetery". 17 September 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  10. Marginalia. Avron Foundation Limited. 2011. ISBN 9780954342272.
  11. "No Condition is Permanent, 19 Poets on Climate Justice and Change". 7 November 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  12. "Africa Writes 2019 – Bristol". Royal African Society. 28 June 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  13. "Where is Colston (still) celebrated?". Countering Colston – Campaign to Decolonise Bristol. 11 September 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  14. Parkes, Pamela (8 June 2020). "Who was Edward Colston and why is Bristol divided by his legacy?". BBC News. Bristol. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  15. "Interview with Ros Martin on Countering Colston". Phantoms 2020. Huron University. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  16. "Promoting a boycott of Colston Hall by artists and the public". To You...To Me. Theatre Bristol. July 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  17. "Talk Bristol | Have your say: Colston Hall". BBC News. Bristol. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  18. Martin, Ros; Madge Dresser (21 June 2014). "Should Bristol's Colston Hall change its name – to distance itself from slavery?". The Observer.
  19. "Colston Hall music venue renamed Bristol Beacon". BBC News. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  20. Gayle, Damien (5 January 2022). "How Bristol came out in support of the Colston Four". The Guardian.
  21. Cork, Tristan (12 February 2021). "Woman arrested outside 'Colston 4' court case makes complaint to police". Bristol Post.
  22. Gayle, Damien (22 April 2021). "Bristol police admit protest ban under Covid powers was unlawful". The Guardian.
  23. "Police apologise for fining protesters outside Edward Colston court case". Oxford Mail. 22 April 2021.
  24. Purdy-Moore, Sophia (24 April 2021). "Police apologise and pay damages to protesters supporting Bristol's 'Colston Four'". Canary Workers' Co-op. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  25. "'Before I am Rendered Invisible' by Ros Martin". Arkbound. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  26. "Ros Martin: 'Before I Am Rendered Invisible'". Bristol Radical History Group. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  27. "Being Rendered Visible by Ros Martin". Retrieved 19 February 2023 – via YouTube.
  28. "From Pitch to Publication: Before I Am Rendered Invisible by Ros Martin". YouTube. 24 November 2022.
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