Pero’s bridge with its pair of horn shaped sculptures was designed by Ellis o’Connell and opened in 1999, on Bristol docks.
Pero was an African slave bought in 1769, by John Pinney, a plantation owner, in the West Indies, he was 12 years old. Pinney paid about £115 for him, his two sisters and an adult slave. When Pinney returned to England, he brought Pero with him. The young man never saw Africa or the West Indies again and died near Bristol in 1798.
Lucid Gypsy 
such beautiful title – your lines is so amazing to read!!!
A sad story and such an unusual bridge sculpture, they look as though they could topple over
So good to have this striking memorial to such a dismal period of history, and to a named individual.
Extraordinary…
These two horn shaped sculptures seem to want to tell loudly the suffers they endured and the longing for freedom. Thank you for the post, Gilly.
An interesting pair, and a sad story …..
A sad and all too common story. A friend of a friend has just found an account of “blackbirding” – the practice of kidnapping islanders as slave labour in Australia once transporting convicts stopped. And in the Sam week a gruelling radio program in part about an Aboriginal man taken from Fraser Island to be part of an “ethnographic zoo” in the late 19th century. And now your post. Human beings can be appalling to each other
I didn’t know what to make of the bridge the first time I saw it, Gilly. Thank you for the explanation. 🙂 🙂 Happy Sunday! Keep warm, darlin!
This is quite extraordinary dear Gilly! I have never seen anything similar 🙂