The artist in his studio [Brendan Delzin]

A CHURCH has unveiled artworks celebrating the 250th anniversary of the baptism of one of Britain’s most important abolitionists.

St James’s Piccadilly has commissioned the paintings by Che Lovelace of Quobna Ottobah Cugoano.

Cugoano was born in present-day Ghana but was stolen by slave owners in 1770 at the age of 13 before being freed and baptised at the church in Piccadilly.

Mr Lovelace said: “Having the opportunity to be part of the legacy of Ottobah Cugoano is truly significant and meaningful. To see St James’s Church, Piccadilly, honour his name and what he stood for, is also to bear witness to an evolving story; one where our societies acknowledge and account for not only the traumatic episodes of our shared histories but also find spaces and moments where the human potential for renewal, growth and transcendence is given importance and is truly celebrated.”

Spirit, also in St James’s [Brendan Delzin]

He was brought by a merchant to England where he gained his “freedom” in 1772, and was baptised a year later.

He wrote about the experience in his book now known by the title Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery, published in 1787.

The book is considered one of the most radical of the era in its arguments and has remained in print for most of the intervening years.

A new plaque commemorating the baptism was dedicated last month in a Sunday service at St James’s. It is the first place to commemorate Cugoano’s life anywhere in the world.

The Church of England is heavily implicated in the transatlantic chattel slavery and, after commissioning research into it, has set aside funds to raise awareness and to call for the total abolition of the slave trade worldwide.

A statement from St James’s Church said it “acknowledges its own part in this history and wants to learn about its past, better to understand the present”.

Two of Che Lovelace’s artworks in St James’s in Piccadilly, above left The River, above right Passage [Stephen White]

The church’s rector Lucy Winkett said: “The baptism of Quobna Ottobah Cugoano at St James’s Church Piccadilly in 1773 is one of the only places and times that can with confidence be ascribed to this influential abolitionist. It is therefore our duty and honour to mark the 250th anniversary with art commissions, commemorative events and gatherings.

“More importantly though, in learning from the complicities of the past, to work for the change that Cugoano could see so clearly, which is still needed today.”

The paintings by Che Lovelace show intersecting lives of people, flora and fauna of his native Trinidad & Tobago. They straddle the boundary between magical realism, abstraction, and the beauty of the natural world.

St James’s is considered “The Artists’ Church” due to its relationship with the Royal Academy of Arts.

Rev Winkett is Chaplain to the RA and the church hosts the annual Varnishing Day service following a procession along Piccadilly marking the opening of the RA’s annual summer exhibition.

• For further information see: https://www.sjp.org.uk/cugoano/