In 1804 enslaved Haitian revolutionaries won their freedom from France — a beacon of hope for the oppressed and a symbol of danger for colonial empires. My image invites the audience to ponder connections between the expansion of nineteenth-century colonisation in the Pacific and the decline of British slavery in the Caribbean with the juxtaposition of three timelines. Two texts from 1829 and 1830 discuss emancipation and colonisation. The swirling Caribbean represents fears for imperial security posed by "hasty emancipation." Is freedom to be won or controlled? What happened after freedom?