About the artist
Active in the late 18th Century, William Elford was part of Plymouth chapter of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. This was a local committee that regularly met to raise money and to raise awareness towards the abolition of slavery through the production of their own publications.
Work
Plan of Brookes Slave Ship
1788
This diagram was arguably one of the first ‘data visualisations’ created to raise awareness and understanding, and to affect cultural and political change. It shows the unbearably tiny spaces allocated to the slaves onboard the ship, which sailed between Liverpool, the African Gold Coast and Jamaica.