The Struggle is a symbolic representation of the experience, emotions and status of the African Americans during the Slave Trade. The bridge spans one of the oldest docks in Liverpool, which was a major port in the transatlantic slave trade. Today it is a stones throw away from the International Slavery Museum, thereby making the setting even more significant. Even though slavery was abolished over 150 years ago, the effects are still prevalent in society today. This bridge seeks to encompass the traveller in an atmosphere, causing them to experience on some level what slavery was too those who experience it. Hopefully it will cause them to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards discrimination in all forms. Initially, the traveller exists as part of the collective, part of the social context, where all have equal human rights. When they take their first steps onto the bridge, their status changes. The ramp lowers them down to a level much lower than everybody else, they feel exposed and disconnected, an object to be looked down upon, something less than the rest of society. The struggle has begun… Gradually the traveller makes their way across, but it’s a daunting task. They find themselves hindered by others, hindered by the bridge itself. Their tangled path makes a linear direction impossible. This is similar to the circumstances that the slaves experienced, they too found themselves in situations beyond their control. On either side is the water, the abyss, many people who gave along the way, fell pray to the abyss because the struggle was too great. Too much effort was required to “get to the other side”. The traveller continues, ducking and weaving, finding their way across, maybe helping others along the way! Over time, slavery takes its toll on an individual and it gets harder to bare. Then oppression creeps in and they have reached a place where all the senses are block, only memories and feelings exist. The exhibition is a space filled with the memories of the slave trade, images on the walls of the atrocities and crimes against the slaved. They are lit by shards of light penetrating the space, light which brings hope into a dark and despairing place. A hope of a brighter future ahead, and their in the distance is the exit from this oppression. The traveller continues moving upwards, still struggling to break free of the bondage. The traveller continues, ducking and weaving, finding their way across. Finally for this individual at least they have found a way thorough the entangled path and the oppression. They have found hope and survived the abyss, just like some of the slaves who had the opportunity to buy their freedom. Onwards and upwards they rise until at some point they merge back into the fabric of society.