The Keeper of All the Secrets

Jacqueline Bishop’s ceramic tea service The Keeper of All The Secrets is a new commission that will go on display in the Queen’s House at Royal Museums Greenwich in early 2025. Featuring the image of the market woman and various plants known to induce abortion, the service is a comment on colonialism, empire and the position of women in society. The fi gure of the market woman is a well-known symbol of the plantation system, but litt le has been written on her signifi cance. She performed an illicit resistance to the plantation system, secretly assisting in the regulation of menstrual cycles and illegally terminating unwanted pregnancies, many of which are known to have been the result of rape by enslavers. This book, also featuring new poetry by Bishop and an interview, situates the market woman within the context of Caribbean enslavement and the tea trade. The tea service will be considered alongside other items in the Museum’s collection relating to colonialism and empire and provides a lens through which contemporary debates on the present-day impacts of these issues can be explored.