I worked with Newcastle Law School as part of my Visiting Professor role at Newcastle University to run an open call and commission a poem for their Art and Law Projects initiative which aimed to invigorate their buildings and public realm and communicate their values.
2023 marked 100 years of teaching law and 60 years of Newcastle Law School graduates and Michael Brown's poetry commission helped celebrate and mark these milestones with his poem 'Act' which speaks to the theme of anti-slavery and the complex role of law as an instrument of oppression and/or liberation. 'Act' references Grey's Monument in Newcastle which commemorates Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who was Prime Minister during the passage of the Great Reform Act of 1832 which expanded the electorate, allowing more people to vote, which then influenced the subsequent abolition of slavery.
