Avery Chamberlain reviews the ‘Women Dressing Women’ exhibition at The Met

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Final year Fashion and Design History student Avery Chamberlain reviews The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s ‘Women Dressing Women’ exhibition (Dec. 7 2023 – Mar. 10 2024). 

‘Women Dressing Women’: Subversion, Compliance and The Condition of The 21st Century Fashion Exhibition

Avery Chamberlain

 

Fig. 1: View of “Women Dressing Women” Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Personal photograph by author. 21 Dec. 2023.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Autumn/Winter 2023 Costume Institute Exhibition Women Dressing Women (Dec. 7 2023 – Mar. 10 2024) curated by Melissa Huber and Karen Van Godstenhoven, in their own words, aims to “…celebrate the artistic legacy of female fashion designers by showcasing innovative and enduring garments created by well-known, anonymous, and overlooked women makers.[1]” This long overdue discussion of female creativity in the canon of fashion history is the first of its kind for The Met, whose own costume institute carries a long lineage of women in fashion. While it succeeds in telling stories often unknown and overlooked by audiences and fellow institutions alike, some aspects of the experience left something to be desired. First and foremost, the layout of the exhibition space attempts to divide the space based on four keystones representing the struggle of women designers: Anonymity, Visibility, Agency, and Absence/Omission[2].  However, the use of exhibition space was faultily executed and created audible confusion among visitors. Upon entering the Tisch Gallery of the Anna Wintour Costume Center, a space which requires visitors to locate a staircase and descend below the museum’s ground floor, the first visible section on the right-hand side is labelled ‘II: Visibility’ (Fig. 1). This requires visitors to instead turn left to view ‘I: Anonymity’, retrace their steps to return to section two, and retrace their steps yet again to locate section three.  Faults in accessibility, such as the ones present in this space, can sacrifice the audience’s well-being as a result of the design choices made. The visitor is inadvertently confused which can cause frustration, “inferiority and submissiveness” in the space, as psychologist Anita Rui Olds described it in the Journal of Museum Studies[3]. The endeavour to make the sections more distinct lay solely in the presence of headpieces on the mannequins, each section being given its distinct design by a different artist. The only explanation of these headpieces is in the form of a small piece of text disclosing the artist’s name with no deeper reasoning behind the choice of artists provided. Furthermore, the headpieces are absent from some mannequins, including the translucent ones in the centre of the room, making it extremely difficult to decipher which section these belong to. Unlike the mannequins on the outer borders of the room, they do not naturally follow the flow of the section breaks (Fig.2). Others are lacking the headpieces due to the garments themselves, as is visible in Figure 3, leading one to assume that this feature of the exhibition lacked the necessary forethought.

Fig. 2: Ann Lowe, Evening Dress, circ. 1968, white cotton organza with pink silk organza carnations, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. . Personal photograph by author. 21 Dec. 2023.

Fig. 3: Bonnie Cashin, Coat, 1958, red and black plaid mohair knit with red leather trim, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. . Personal photograph by author. 21 Dec. 2023.

   A further blunder, though consistent with its contemporaries, the Met opted to include entirely high-fashion pieces constructed for upper-class consumers; Presenting only the most pristine examples from a given time period[4], ultimately reflecting a very small group of women designers and excluding the most needful of representation. Designers associated with middle-class, ordinary garments that would truly resonate with The Met’s varied audience, are absent, yet aspirational ensembles designed for royal court presentations (Fig.4) and lavish evenings line the space. The Met’s presentation of fine art and high fashion pervades the concept of the exhibition, and its sponsorship by investment bank Morgan Stanley and media giant Condé Nast enforces this even further, encouraging an exorbitant display. The boost provided by the sponsorship allowed for further acquisitions of additional garments, as is disclosed in the exhibition’s panels[5]. The implications of this sort of exhibition are simple. Fashion, especially that worthy of museum presentation, is high-fashion and scholarly by nature. An enduring discourse regarding museum-worthiness in fashion collections has already established a desire for institutions to divert away from this curatorial strategy, yet it remains ever-present in this exhibition and a majority of museums worldwide[6]. The environment this creates is one permeated by academic superiority and inclusivity which fails to address and include many groups, as is seen in Women Dressing Women. The exhibition strives to “…open up new perspectives…” and “…highlight the often-overlooked female labour of crafting garments…[7]”, yet the catalogue is representative of only those who achieved highest, enforcing the existing inclination to high fashion in the museum space and appeasing the established standards. All while attempting to subvert these very same standards. As is outlined in the chapter “Posterity Has Arrived” in Museum Activism “Inadvertently or not, many of the world’s museums are agents or partners in the hoarding of wealth, while also indulging in excessive consumption as organisations…[8]” The presence of a thoughtful feminist perspective may dissuade this discussion, but despite its triumphs, it does not fully erase the presence of these faults. The exhibition largely succeeds in its goals, telling untold stories, sparking much-needed discussions all in an empowering and visually appealing way. Yet if we fail to encourage our harbourers of cultural heritage to go beyond the comfortable territory of fine art, and to dismantle its norms for the betterment of public education, we cannot hope for the true museum activism Women Dressing Women aimed to achieve.

Fig. 4: Sylvie Boué de Montegut and Jeanne d’Etrellis, Court presentation ensemble, 1928, Pink silk chiffon and ivory tulle with silk flowers and embroidered with silk and metal lame, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. . Personal photograph by author. 21 Dec. 2023.

 

References

[1] Max Hollen, “Director’s Foreword,” Women Dressing Women, (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2023), pp.9.

[2] “Press Release: The Met’s Fall 2023 Costume Institute Exhibition to Celebrate the Creativity and Artistic Legacy of Women Designers and Women-Led Fashion Houses,” The Met, October 27th, 2023.

[3] Anita Rui Olds, “Sending Them Home Alive,” Journal of Museum Education, vol. 15, no. 1, 1990, pp. 11.

[4] Valerie Steele, “A Museum of Fashion is More Than a Clothes-Bag,” Fashion Theory, vol. 2, no.4, 1998, pp.333

[5] Women Dressing Women, introductory text panels, Dec 7. 2023-Mar 3. 2024, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York.

[6] Valerie Steele, “A Museum of Fashion is More Than a Clothes-Bag,” Fashion Theory, vol. 2, no.4, 1998, pp.333-334

[7] Melissa Huber and Karen Van Godstenhoven, “Women Dressing Women: A Lineage of Female Fashion Design,” Women Dressing Women, (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2023), pp.13.

[8] Robert R. Janes and Richard Sandell, “Posterity has Arrived,” Museum Activism, edited by Robert R. Janes and Richard Sandell, (Routledge, 2019), pp. 5.

Annie Wright reviews the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Fashion Gallery

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Final year Fashion and Design History student Annie Wright reviews the V&A’s Fashion gallery. 

Victoria and Albert Fashion Gallery Review

Annie Wright

 

The Victoria and Albert Museum “was established in 1852, following the popular success of the great exhibition of 1851”[1]. Textiles were a part of the collection from early on, but “initially dress was acquired for the technical quality and design of the woven, printed or embroidered textiles from which it was made rather than for its fashionable significance”[2]. However, “by the 1890s the aesthetic appeal of dress became increasingly appreciated amidst a wider interest in British history”[3]. It was in 1957 that “the museums first dedicated fashion curator was appointed”[4]. And in 1960, one of the museums first fashion exhibitions, A Lady of Fashion”[5]. In 1971 “Sir Cecil Beaton persuaded his aristocratic and stylish friends to donate 1,200 items of haute couture to the V&A for an exhibition Fashion: An Anthology”[6]. Which would become the basis of the galleries twentieth century collection. And the exhibition, with its “dramatic styling, marked the beginning of modern fashion curation”[7]. The gallery since has only grown in popularity, with landmark exhibitions such as Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty in 2015, which “became the museum’s most visited exhibition”[8].

Figure 1, Peshwaz, Late 18th century to early 19th century, India, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O470782/peshwaz/.

Figure 2, Sun Sun Company, Qipao, 1930, Shanghai, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1151302/qipao-sun-sun-company/

Figure 3, Dress Fabric, 1600-1700, Isfahan, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O86626/dress-fabric-unknown/.

The V&A fashion gallery provides an excellent timeline of western upper-class fashion, which spans from the mid to late 18th century to present day.  However, the fashion gallery largely excludes non-western garments from their timeline, which dangerously perpetuates the long-standing colonial narrative, that throughout history has been pushed by museums, that non-western societies are inferior. Museums are a place of education, and “continue to be one of society’s most trusted institutions”[9], therefore the public may not question this narrative. Bernie Macdonald, the director of decolonizing initiatives at San Diego Museum of Man, states “Museums were birthed from the colonial endeavour”[10] and “Museums and collectors not only claimed ownership over the material object, but also drafted their own narratives and stories of the “primitive” people who made them and their uses”[11]. The V&A is guilty of creating their own narrative, as the exclusion of garments from non-western cultures from their fashion timeline perpetuates the idea of western superiority and supports the idea of the oriental “other”. The issue is not regarding the V&A needing to acquire garments from non- western cultures, as they already have plenty, which can be found in their other galleries. Like the British and European galleries, the South Asia (Figure 1), Chinese (Figure 2), Islamic Middle East (Figure 3), Japanese (Figure 4) and Korean (Figure 5) galleries all contain both textiles and items of clothing. However, unlike the British and European galleries, these items are not also included in the fashion gallery. Out of nearly 200 items on display only a handful are non-western, including a dress by Cheedonian Boutique (Figure 6) and a skirt and coat by Yohji Yamamoto (Figure 7).

Figure 4, Kimono, 1870-1890, Japan, Victoria and Albert Museum, Personal Photograph by the Author, 10 March, 2023.

Figure 5, Samo, 19th century, Korea, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O485775/samo-hat-unknown/.

Figure 6, Cheedoniam Boutique, Dress, 1994, Sierra Leone, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1644195/dress-cheedonian-boutique/.

Figure 7, Yohji Yamamoto, Skirt, 2004-2005, Japan, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1245355/skirt-yohji-yamamoto/.

Another issue is that item labels are small, usually around 50 words or less, which creates an issue when an item requires context. For example, one display in the gallery includes a shawl from 1860-65, which was made in France but is inspired by Indian textiles (Figure 8). But with the label’s word count being small, the colonial history may not be apparent to the audience. There is more information about the shawl on the website, however it is unlikely that the public would look there or even know to look there.

On the July 2nd 2022 until the April 16th 2023, the V&A held an exhibition called Africa Fashion, which was “the UK’s frst major exploration of 20th-century style across Africa and the diaspora”[12]. The exhibition “drew the highest attendance figures for the event since 2019”[13] and was even visited by king Charles III. The exhibition was definitely a step in the right direction for the fashion galleries at the museum and showed that the museum is capable of decolonising its displays. With even the mannequins being remade to look less Eurocentric as there is “a lack of diversity in commercially available mannequins”[14]. Whilst it is great that this exhibition was held, the fact it was only temporary still contributes to Eurocentric narrative. There needs to be these exhibitions but also more garments in the permanent collection.

Unfortunately, the lack of inclusivity in the permanent fashion gallery does not just come from Eurocentric and colonial ideas about museums but also funding. The museum “ is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport”[15], therefore changing and adding to the fashion gallery may not be as easy. But with exhibitions like Africa fashion showing that the museum is ready and wanting to decolonise its practices. And block buster expiations like the Coco Channel one currently being held, will bring in more money for the museum. There is hope for change soon.

 

References

[1] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 6.

[2] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 6.

[3] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 6.

[4] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016),, 7.

[5] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 7.

[6] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 7.

[7] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 7.

[8] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 8.

[9] Robert R. Janes, Richard Sandell, “Posterity has arrived: The necessary emergence of museum activism”, Museum Activism, edited by Robert R. Janes, Richard Sandell, (Routledge, 2019), 6.

[10] Brandie Macdonald, “Pausing, Reflection, and Action: Decolonizing Museum Practices”, Journal of Museum Education, Volume 47, Issue 1, 2022, 10.

[11] Brandie Macdonald, “Pausing, Reflection, and Action: Decolonizing Museum Practices”, Journal of Museum Education, Volume 47, Issue 1, 2022, 10.

[12] “A year in highlights”, V&A Annual Review 2022-23, 6.

[13] “Performance against strategic objectives”, Victoria and Albert Museum Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, 10.

[14] Rachel Lee, “Why representation matters: Creating the Africa Fashion mannequin”, Victoria and Albert Museum, January 25, 2023, https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/projects/why-representation-matters-creating-the-africa-fashion-mannequin.

[15] Victoria and Albert Museum, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/victoria-and-albert-museum.

Megan Glass reviews the exhibition ‘Crown to Couture’ at Kensington Palace, 5 Apr – 31 Oct 2023.

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Third-year fashion and design history student Megan Glass shares her insights into ‘Crown to Couture’ which took place from 5 April to 31 October 2023 at Kensington Palace. 

Crown to Couture at Kensington Palace – The Royal Courts meet the Hollywood Starlet in a Grand Exhibition

by Megan Glass

Kensington Palace hosts a glamorous new exhibition documenting the story of high fashion and occasion wear, through both the lens of the royal court, and of the modern-day media.

View from the King’s Gallery, displaying ‘The Spectacle’ collection. Photo by Richard Lea-Hair.

A truly unique story of connections between royal court fashion and Hollywood couture come together in Crown to Couture, hosted at Kensington Palace. The awe-inspiring selection of pieces draw parallels between ornate Georgian society and the glamour of modern-day Hollywood, whilst analysing differences among the respective societies and expectations of the time.

Connections to royal fashion have not surprisingly been established in Kensington Palace for as long as it has been inhabited in 1605, but the relatively new-found world of modern glitz, glamour and movie stars is something that the Palace had yet to explore, which allows for a new spin on the historic venue. In many areas, the interior of the palace itself aides in telling the narrative of high court fashion, and the social implications of this style of dressing. In others, the King’s Gallery for example, the placing of modern designs amongst the grand rooms calls for some reflection regarding the differences and advancements in design since the Georgian period.

The ‘Spitalfields Mantua’ dress with a pannier, the oldest complete court gown in history.

The exhibition opens with an introduction to ‘Old Hollywood’. In the centre of the room stands a glass case displaying the beloved dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and later, to win Best Actress at the Oscars in 1954, with an Oscar placed alongside it. This dress, which would be considered close to something modern royals may wear today, still manages to wildly contrast the Georgian Spitalfields mantua dress, the oldest complete court gown in history, in which it’s pannier causes the dress to billow out from the hip. These two dresses, both equal in fame and cultural importance, manage to contrast each other in ways that continue throughout the rest of the exhibition.

For visitors of the exhibition, adult tickets retail at £25.40 and cover the entirety of Crown to Couture as well as access to other exhibited areas of the Palace, Victoria: A Royal Childhood for instance, which offers some more context surrounding the estate and its various historical purposes itself. The darkness of the rooms works to help preserve the garments in a way that will cause the least amount of damage possible, but the integral pieces of information regarding each ensemble remains highlighted. This is done through the use of lighted text panels placed on podiums, which provide a concise amount of knowledge whilst displaying in a way that avoids covering any aspect of the intricate interior of the palace.

It must be stated however, that these panels may be hard to find access to during busy viewing slots and may also be missed if not given the space the stand directly in front of, and then read. Panels belonging to particularly popular garments, such as Beyoncé’s 2017 Grammy Awards ensemble could unintentionally be missed if too crowded, which could potentially result in a lack of context surrounding the garment, if no prior knowledge had been acquired.

 

Beyonce’s 2017 Grammy’s ensemble, designed by Peter Dundas.

Whilst moving further on into the collections, a plethora of gowns are displayed, with some taking inspiration from royal fashion itself like the 2020 Jeremy Scott’s Moschino dress, and Lizzo’s Thom Browne dress worn to the 2022 Met Gala. Despite these contemporary design references to historical royal dress, there is a definite lack of modern royal fashions in the exhibition. From the title Crown to Couture, audiences may expect to see more pieces from the royal wardrobe that were worn in the past hundred years. This may disappoint some who find themselves more invested in this subject area, as opposed to the clothes of modern A-listers. With this being said, the exhibition gathers a spectacular range of modern couture gowns, most notably from events like the Met Gala, the Oscars and the ‘Big 4’ fashion weeks from around the globe, most notably Billy Porter’s “Sun God” look for the 2022 Met Gala, or the luminous Christopher John-Rogers gown worn by Lady Gaga for the 2020 MTV Awards.

This vast and grand exhibition manages to blend the societies of royal courts and Hollywood together, creating a unique experience for any who appreciate the intricacies of couture, as well as the changes that modern society has undergone in the past several hundred years.

Sources Cited

Bromley, Joe. “Crown to Couture at Kensington Palace review: Heaven for devotees of the A-list, past and present.” Evening Standard. 30th March 2023. https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/exhibitions/crown-to-couture-at-kensington-palace-review-beyonce-kendall-jenner-timothee-chalomet-b1070989.html

Bridger-Linning, Stephanie. “Georgian glamour meets modern red carpet royalty in opulent new Kensington Palace exhibition.” Tatler. 7th February 2023. https://www.tatler.com/article/crown-to-couture-exhibition-kensington-palace

Cary, Alice. “A New Exhibition at Kensington Palace Charts Regal Style on the Red Carpet.” Vogue. 30th March 2020. https://www.vogue.com/article/crown-to-couture-exhibition-kensington-palace

Starbuck, Lydia. “Red carpet and royalty make perfect partners at Kensington Palace’s new exhibition, Crown to Couture.” Royal Central. 4th April 2023. https://royalcentral.co.uk/features/red-carpet-and-royalty-make-perfect-partners-at-kensington-palaces-new-exhibition-187846/

 

 

 

MA Curating alumna Preksha Kothari reflects on how her MA studies influence her current job in contemporary art curating

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Preksha Kothari is Programme Coordinator at Shrine Empire Gallery in New Delhi, and also a graduate of the Curating Collections and Heritage master’s programme. In this blog post, she reflects on her current professional priorities, and how the discussions and texts she encountered on the MA Curating helped sharpen her aims for the sector.

Currently, I am working as the Programme Coordinator at Shrine Empire, one of the leading contemporary art galleries of India and their non-profit venture, the Prameya Art Foundation. Located in New Delhi, we are working towards critically expanding and engaging with emerging contemporary art practices through our programming.

Almost a year into this position, I work on multiple avenues, including working closely with curators and artists for exhibition set-up, creating content for social media, and coordinating the various grants and awards that the Foundation offers to artists and curators in South Asia. Working in the contemporary arts in India has given me a deep insight into research, the history of contemporary arts, and its usage politically by minoritised and marginalised communities to reclaim spaces denied to them.

As the Programme Coordinator, I constantly recall and utilize the various concepts and debates that I studied in my MA Curating Collections and Heritage. One specific notion that is ever present is to make the institutions as accessible as possible, which was introduced to me for the first time while studying the Museums and Collections in Context module. We recently went bilingual for all exhibition texts from our September exhibition onwards. We will also be getting an accessibility audit in 2025 to take further steps to open our space to a diverse variety of audience, because ultimately, art is meant for sharing.

My favourite part about working as a Programme Coordinator is conversing with the visitors and giving them walkthroughs of our exhibitions. Also, working directly with curators and artists has immensely helped me in figuring out my own research interests, the nuances of exhibition making, and how the South Asian context applies to this.

Prameya Art Foundation is a nomadic institution, a direct response to the lack of institutional spaces in the region. With an objective to expand and collaborate with alternative practices and an expansive approach to arts, the foundation engages with arts organisations across the South Asian region and globally to foster critical conversations surrounding the arts. At the foundation, I primarily coordinate the many grants and residency programmes we have for emerging creative practitioners, and undertake curatorial research and writing for projects. Studying the MA helped me put into practice critical thinking and writing, which we were always encouraged to pursue through modules like Critical Perspectives on Exhibitions.

My recent projects have been completing proposals for international art fairs, assisting in curatorial research for a video exhibition programme, and creating a new Instagram series called ArtFridayFeature, that focuses on our gallery artists and highlighting their artistic practice for a particular work they want featured.

Image caption: Installation view, Debris Collector,  a solo exhibition by Anoli Perera, Shrine Empire

 

A Brighton seafront heritage walk

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Ellen1

MA Curating Collections and Heritage student Ellen Hume ambles along Brighton’s seafront in search of heritage

Ellen1

As part of my Heritage in a Global Context module with Eliza Tan, I took a self-guided seafront walk on a sunny Friday afternoon to immerse myself in the pilgrimage of Brighton’s long history as a seaside resort. As a new student, this is my first ever time living in Brighton, so I felt this walk would be a great way to experience the sites and well-known beachfront that is iconic to the area. My walk started at a famous landmark: Brighton Palace Pier: a vibrant space bustling with tourists and locals alike. Along my route, I was recommended to look out for key landmarks: The Madeira Arches, Volks Railway Track and the Steve Ovett Statue, but overall, the walk was to be taken at your own pace and direction. I documented my walk via note-taking and photographing the environment.

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One of the first things that caught my attention was the amount of original architecture still surviving from the Victorian era! From the beginning you are immersed in the elegant, forgotten opulence of fading buildings and walkways – underneath the seafront wall are shops, cafes and businesses galore, a clash of the modern and the old-fashioned. It was interesting to see the old buildings being used for new purposes rather than left to decay and crumble, to bring new life to an already bustling area.

What is sadly decaying and crumbling are the Madeira Arches, just a couple of minutes’ walk further on. These intricate Victorian arches have been listed as a Grade 2 structure and are closed to the public due to deterioration, however local love for the arches shines through the restoration campaign with aims to restore them! As an avid history lover, it is very exciting to see locals and council come together to save such an integral part of the seafront. Signs placed by the council (across from the arches) explain more about the project, from the history of the arches, technical details and their vision for the future, as well as how you can get involved. This demonstrated to me how much love the locals have for their cultural landscape and how much it means to them, to preserve it for future generations.

Ellen 3Ellen 4

Within this immediate area is the Steve Ovett statue. As I am not a local, I was interested to learn a little more about the community and discovered that this statue (a replacement for the original, that was stolen) commemorates the Brighton born Olympian on his 1980 gold medal, show of community pride and heritage. Time and weather have started to take its toll on the monument however, with the stone base becoming weathered and harder to read.

Ellen 5

Continuing further along the walk, I encountered more tourists and locals enjoying themselves in the sunshine. Whether it was relaxing on a bench, walking dogs, meeting friends or exploring the seaside area, everyone seemed to be connecting to the area in their own way. Bygone architecture follows you along the entire walk, surrounded by the past you can’t help but wonder what it was like and if you were following in the same footsteps as a Victorian tourist? Some buildings appear to be disused, but still stand watch over the seafront as remnants of time gone by, but another interesting feature I noticed were the lampposts. Down the length of the seafront are the original lampposts, likely from the Victorian or Edwardian era, some of which have been fitted with newer lamps or left as they were; opposite these are the new modern lampposts, I found this to be an interesting contrast – an act of preservation and modernisation, keeping the old amongst the new and trying to continue the immersion.

Another feature of the seafront is the Volks Railway. I discovered this was the world’s oldest electric railway, built in 1883! It’s a stunning example of Victorian craftsmanship and continues to be a draw for tourism to this day, with 3 stops along its mile long track, which I passed on my walk. The enthusiasm and joy surrounding the attraction was evident from riders and staff, enjoying the quaint journey along the tracks, taking a step back in time to take the same route as tourists from decades ago.

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The end of my walk to the Sea Lanes, Kemptown, was nearing and I began to reflect on everything I had seen. Surrounded by historical architecture and living history, I looked to the modern architecture that spanned the seafront. New business, clubs and cafes seem to be modern continuations of past practices that the seafront has been used for: exercise, health, pleasure and relaxation. After all of these years, the joy and love from this community and tourists alike has never dimmed for this beautiful area, with signs to guide you through a specific route to explore history and culture or objects dotted along walks to give you a glimpse into community history, the welcoming and vibrant feelings of the area encourage you to explore. Throughout my walk I also took photos with my polaroid camera, to try and capture Brighton through my own eyes while using an older style of documenting.

To finish my walk a took a seat on the beach to look back on the route, which took me just over an hour, and to reflect on what I had experienced. Brighton beach is truly a beautiful place to explore and I’m so glad I chose here to do my master’s degree! Heritage is all around, and the sense of a welcoming, proud community is evident in their encouragement to explore.

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The walk was very enjoyable and helped me develop my investigation and fieldwork skills for my Heritage in a Global Context class, which I look forward to continuing. I also look forward to exploring more of the Brighton and Hove area, as well as its rich history and community connections!

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[All photographs were taken by Ellen Hume]

Working at the Imperial War Museum alongside MA study

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MA History of Design and Material Culture student Pippy Stephenson describes her current work as volunteer coordinator at the Imperial War Museum. 

Alongside my part-time History of Design and Material Culture MA, I’ve been working as a Volunteer Team Leader (volunteer coordinator) at the Imperial War Museum. I began the role as I was going into the second year of my degree and still living in Brighton. So, the first few months involved a lot of early winter morning commutes. I moved back to London fairly promptly when I realised how unmanageable this was! But it was really exciting to have my first paid museum role after several years of volunteering in various museums such as the Garden Museum, Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft and a zero hours retail job at the Natural History Museum.

In my first year at Brighton, I’d taken Claire Wintle’s, ‘Museums in Context’ module, which introduced me to ideas of community engagement and museums as places for people, not just collections. After that I was drawn to museum roles which went some way to bringing people into museums who might otherwise feel unwelcome and in providing a sense of ownership of these institutions to local communities. Working in the volunteering department at the Imperial War Museum I’ve been able to learn more about this type of museum practice and develop my own programmes.

On a day-to-day basis my role involves providing operational and administrative support to volunteers, hosting training and development sessions as well as advocating for volunteers throughout the museum. This can mean ensuring they get tours of new exhibitions, a workshop with an expert or simply a higher cap on their expenses. Throughout the last year, I’ve worked on two programmes that sought to improve the volunteering offer at the museum. Firstly, I led a research project with a group of students from a local university, setting them the task of finding out why relatively few local people volunteer at the museum. I felt that it was important to increase the number of local people engaging as volunteers, in order to foster a closer relationship with the local community. The project lasted six weeks and resulted in the students producing a list of recommendations, one of which was to offer short-term skills based programmes in order to engage local young people.

Using this advice, I designed the IWM Summer Volunteer Programme, running from June to September. We aimed it at 18-25 year olds from South London looking for careers in heritage. The programme consists of weekly or twice weekly skills sessions with staff members throughout the museum, alongside front of house shifts. The idea was to provide an insight in a wide variety of museum roles along with practical experience, as the behind the scenes of museums can feel like a bit of a mystery. It can also be very tricky to start a career in heritage, so I hoped this experience could help those enrolled on the programme secure their next opportunity.

We had sessions with curation, operations, archives, preservation, retail, marketing, events, learning and with the Director General, among others. The feedback we gathered at the end of the programme proved that the volunteers found these sessions immensely rewarding. Alongside this, volunteers could sign up for flexible front-of-house shifts, starting out with an experienced buddy. The buddy programme at the museum has been running for several years now and it means that every new volunteer starts out by shadowing a friendly, welcoming volunteer. We had a lovely group of twelve volunteers enrolled on the programme, all but two have chosen to stay on as volunteers and we have received really positive feedback.

I’ve had a really great time working as a Volunteer Team Leader so far. Alongside studying and working, I’m also an Ambassador for the Design History Society. In that capacity I’ve written a blog post about Elephant and Castle and I’m currently working on a seminar series about utopia, which will draw upon ideas discussed in my dissertation. I was lucky enough to attend the Design History Society conference in Canterbury this year, where I had a great time on an architecture tour of the city, watching some really interesting research presentations and getting to know some new people, including my DHS colleagues. I’ve now finished my degree, so look forward to working more with our volunteers and developing in my roles at IWM and the DHS.

Above: One of our eyewitness volunteers, Edith’s table of artifacts. She was an evacuee in WW2.
Below: View of the Imperial War Museum, south London

Student Work Placement: Brighton & Hove Museums

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In this blog MA Curating Collections and Heritage Renee Keeffe describes her current work placement with the World Cultures team at Brighton & Hove Museums. She originally presented her insights at a public event organised by the university’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences which celebrated the many collaborations the university has with local and regional partners.

My name is Renee. I am currently pursuing my Master’s degree in Curating, Collections and Heritage. I am excited to share with you a wonderful opportunity I had to do for my professional placement at the Brighton & Hove Museum. I am a big advocate for the professional placement model on the course.Currently, my placement involves working with the ‘World Art team’, which consists of Portia Tremlett, the head curator, and Sandra Bauza, the assistant curator. My particular interest is Indigenous material culture and heritage. The following images give a sense of the work that I’ve been doing.

The Office

I walked into the office, which was one of the first exciting moments, viewing the museum’s own research library in their large bookshelves.

What did I get out the Placement?

I’ve been involved in various tasks at the museum, such as understanding how cataloguing works…..

Accessioning and deaccessioning paperwork and books

The process of cataloguing gave me a practical experience of working with the museum’s collections and object handling right through to learning how objects are created or acquired into the museum. I focused on understanding documentation procedures such as examining documents and filing the them on the museums systems.

Collections: I learned where artefacts or objects are kept  or stored, and how they were filed through the museum’s collections management system called Mimsy. I learnt how objects were collected, or who collected them, and learnt to describe the objects in the sytem.

Loans: I’ve also gained experience while working with loans from the British Museum, ensuring that the objects come back correctly with all the necessary checks on the garments and paperwork.

Research: during my placement, a research team called the ‘Oriental Raids Textile Society’ in London also researched Burmese textiles. They examine each garment closely and observed how each garment’s design and weave revealed its particular provenance.

Digital Archiving: I also learnt how digitization is incorporated into the collection management system through mimsy and excel in order to share information with other researchers.

Throughout my professional placement at the Brighton & Hove Museum, I’ve developed several transferable skills that are valuable in both my current field and potentially in others. The diverse range of tasks I did, which has significantly contributed to my personal and professional growth.

Here are some of the key transferrable skills:

Strong Communication Skills: Working closely with museum staff, from curators to assistants, has improved my ability to communicate effectively. Whether discussing the specifics of loans from other institutions or engaging with digitization processes, clear and effective communication has been crucial.

Teamwork: My experience at the museum underscored the importance of collaboration. Engaging with different departments and learning from experienced professionals has taught me the value of teamwork in achieving common goals.

Multitasking: Handling various tasks simultaneously, from documentation procedures to object handling and cataloguing, has improved my ability to multitask efficiently while maintaining a high standard of work.

Ethical awareness/ cultural sensitivity/Cultural awareness

Critical Thinking/Problem Solving: Throughout my placement, I’ve encountered challenges that required innovative solutions. Whether it was regarding the safe storage of artefacts or navigating the museum’s database systems, critical thinking has been key to overcoming these obstacles.

Writing: Documenting acquisitions, loans, and object histories has enhanced my writing skills, making it easier to articulate complex ideas clearly and concisely, a vital skill in almost any profession.

Engagement: Actively engaging with staff and participating in museum activities has taught me the importance of being a proactive team member.

Commitment: Demonstrating dedication through consistent effort and a willingness to take on various tasks has been a crucial part of my placement.

Optimism: Facing challenges with a positive outlook has not only helped me through difficult tasks but has also contributed to a positive work environment.

Passionate: My passion for curating collections and heritage, especially relating to world cultures and indigenous material culture, has grown.

These skills, acquired and refined during my time at the Brighton & Hove Museum, are not only valuable in the context of curatorial work as well as archives and collections but are also highly transferable to a range of other professions and endeavours.

Next Steps

Drawing on the lessons learned during my placement, I am keen to foster greater connections between museums and indigenous communities.

My aim is to contribute to practical solutions that bridge cultural gaps possible by leveraging digital resources to preserve and share indigenous stories and knowledge on a wider scale  with the archives and the collections. This means not just consulting on the representation of cultural objects in archives or collections but collaborating actively to ensure museums act as spaces of learning and respect for all cultures. This ethical approach aligns perfectly with my own research for my dissertation, particularly addressing complex issues such as decolonization and post-colonialism. Through continued learning and collaboration, I look forward to contributing to a future where museums play a central role in celebrating and preserving objects and their narratives of world cultures, especially those whose histories they hold.

Renee specialises in Indigenous Austrailan cultural heritage and provenance research. Brighton & Hove Museums’ collections are a key case study in her dissertation project.

 

 

 

 

 

Student Work Placement: The Keep Archive

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MA Curating Collections and Heritage student Emily Warwick tells us about her current placement at the Mass Observation archive at the Keep in Brighton.

As part of my Professional Placements in Collections and Heritage module on the MA Curating Collections and Heritage, in semester two I was given the opportunity to volunteer for 150 hours. As I was applying to roles, I knew that a placement in archives was a pathway I was eager to pursue and gain valuable experience in. As a result, I was fortunate to secure a placement within The Mass Observation team, based at The Keep Archives in Falmer.

My role within this professional placement has varied quite a lot and as a result has provided me me first-hand experience of what it is like to work within an archive which is so focused on the benefits of community engagement. The Mass Observation programme was founded in 1937 by Tom Harrison, Charles Madge and Humphrey Jennings with the idea of recording and preserving the lives and thoughts of ordinary, everyday people across Britain. The original work continued until the early 1950s, until the project was revived in 1981. Today, there is a contemporary writing panel which is made up of writers from across the UK who answer questions presented to them in the form of seasonal directives. Questions range quite substantially, and written directives have included themes such as Currency (Summer 1981), You & The NHS (Spring 1997), Travelling (Spring 2000) and Climate change (Summer 2011).

Alongside the directives, the 12th May project allows anyone from around the UK to submit a day diary of everything they did in the morning to when they went to bed at night on this day. As a part of the project this year I attended an open day at Downs Jr School in Hove organised by ‘Take Shelter’, an organisation that have restored the WWII air raid shelter on the school’s grounds, and open it to the public, including as part of the Brighton Fringe festival. The Mass Observation team and I handed out diary pages to members of the public to fill in and send back to the archive, writing everything they got up to at the air raid shelter. It was really interesting to see what people were excited to write about as many people were surprised that their narratives would be included within a public archive. In preparation for the event I gathered examples from within the collection and this ranged from school groups, community groups as well as entries from prisons. In recent weeks, I have been able to catalogue some of this material as well as new entries which have been received via both post and email to the archive. Moreover, as part of the 12th May diary event I ran my own diary workshop with my Girlguiding Brownie pack which I regularly volunteer with. At the event we decorated our own sticker diaries as well as writing about everything we did on 12th May. We made the diaries as colourful as we could, with some girls opting to do theirs in the form of drawing and colouring alongside some writing.

Image showing the Mass Observation stall at Take Shelter

Image showing the Mass Observation stall at Take Shelter

As a part of this placement, I have also had the chance to transcribe some of the Covid 19 collection from 2020. These stories provide an emotive insight into the thoughts and feelings of people nationally during the difficult lockdown period. As a major event, the opinions of writers vary quite a lot as some people had entirely different experiences to others. Ultimately, transcribing and digitising these collections allows more people to read the directives without necessarily needing to visit the physical archive, which is much more accessible for many people, and this is why it is such important work to do.

Overall, I would highly recommend the placement module to anyone wishing to pursue a career in archives and museums as the experience I have gained is invaluable. The team at Mass Observation have been so welcoming and supportive throughout my time with them. They have really opened my eyes to the significance of community engagement within archives and the importance of using the materials we have to facilitate learning. I know that the experience this opportunity has given me will aid me in my career going forward.

Student Work Placement: Zenzie Tinker Conservation

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MA Curating Collections and Heritage student Glenda Harris tells us about her current placement with leading textile conservation studio, Zenzie Tinker Conservation

As part of the MA Curating Collections and Heritage Course I had the opportunity to take the Professional Placements in Collections module. I was thrilled to secure a placement at Zenzie Tinker Conservation, a world-renowned textile conservation studio based  in Brighton. I knew I wanted to gain some hands-on experience in a conservation studio as this will help me gain valuable experience and compliment my academic studies. I am also keen to gain a better understanding of the work involved in displaying historic textiles. During the 150 hours of my placement, I have been able to assist with various projects, from condition checking new acquisitions, to helping with mounting uniforms for the National Trust. I have been able to work independently on object research and as part of the team on other projects. I have learned about and made various mounts for historic clothing and have been responsible for creating bespoke heads for mannequins, which involved everything from creating the pattern to sewing and finishing.

The 1920’s cloche, prior to Glenda’s conservation work

I started my placement by researching Zenzie Tinker’s hat collection. This varied collection includes men’s and women’s headwear, mainly from the first half of the twentieth century. During this research I was drawn to a somewhat unusual 1920s cloche. Considering its age, this hat is in good condition, however, it has no maker’s or retailer’s labels. The hat is a rich dark brown and made of felt and flock with a decorative godet in the centre front. It features a metallic hatband that is showing signs of tarnish. The crown is horizontally divided by an uneven join between the two fabrics, and this seam is partially concealed with applique flowers made of circles of felt and what appears to be mercerised thread formed into flower shapes. The hat is highly decorated with embroidery, and the crown is covered with quilting stitches in metallic thread. The brim that tapers towards the back is somewhat uneven, which could be due to wear, poor storage or the original cutting. Internally, the headband has been cut to allow for the godet but has not been finished, allowing it to fray. It also has an unevenly stitched centre-back seem, which suggests that it may have been modified by a previous owner. The idea of modification is supported by other evidence, such as large, uneven stitches visible at the centre back.

The various stages in Glenda’s mount making process

Brenda’s expert finished cloche support

 

I felt that this hat would benefit from a storage mount and asked Zenzie if it was possible to try making one. I found this a very enjoyable task. I started by making a practice from blotting paper that  I hoped could later be used as a template. This was then covered in polyester wadding which could be built up in layers to create the domed top for the crown. I then fashioned a support for the brim. Once happy with the shape and fit,  I made the final piece from acid-free card and Tyvek tape and was able to reuse the padding from the practice. My first instinct was to use cotton jersey for the covering, but this proved unsuccessful as the folds of excess fabric increased the size significantly. I decided to make a fitted cover from down-free cotton instead. This smoother fabric worked much better, and the hat could slide comfortably over it. I covered the rim with silk in a complementary colour before stitching the rim and crown pieces together. Finally, I made a lining from card to hold everything in place and covered the underside of the rim in more silk. I am happy with the support my mount provides for the hat. However, if I were to repeat the exercise, I would make the rim slightly wider to accommodate the uneven brim. I intend to make a box for the hat for ease of storage.

A well supported hat!

I have since been able to gain further mount-making experience by creating mounts for a pair of embroidered slippers. These slippers have a needlepoint embroidery upper featuring a fox design. The intention is to create an embroidery pattern and produce ‘make your own’ kits inspired by them for the online shop. I am thoroughly enjoying my work placement; I have had the opportunity to work alongside skilled professionals who share their knowledge and encourage me at every stage. This experience has ignited and interest in mount-making which I intend to pursue, and I am certain the experience gained here will be beneficial in the future.

MA Curating Alumna Grace Redpath reflects on her role as Learning Manager promoting the history of the ironstone industry on the North East Coast

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Grace Redpath is Learning Manager at Land of Iron in East Cleveland, and also a graduate of the Curating Collections and Heritage master’s programme. In this blog post, she reflects on her current professional priorities, and how the discussions and texts she encountered on the MA Curating helped sharpen her aims for the sector.

At present, I am the Learning Manager at Land of Iron. An independent museum located in the seaside Village of Skinningrove, East Cleveland, UK, we act to preserve and promote the history of the ironstone industry that once made this region the heart of steel production on the North East coast.

In the three years since graduating, my work has primarily focused on industrial heritage. Industrial heritage is unapologetically working class with intangible aspects that feed their way into all sorts of areas of everyday life. It is political and holds so much pride. Yet, at the same time, at a surface level, it is incredibly masculine, with a very fixed audience/user base.

As Learning Manager I use the theoretical and ethical debates learnt whilst studying MA Curating Collections and Heritage to think critically about the topic of heritage and challenge traditional narratives of museology. Needless to say, I think about Tony Bennett’s classic text on The Birth of the Museum on a daily basis, putting his work on power and hierarchy in museums into conversation with my interest in including those who are all too often excluded from traditional historical narratives and those who don’t necessarily engage with heritage.

A trip to see the exhibition Forever Amber at the Laing in Newcastle was the catalyst for me undertaking postgraduate study. A retrospective of the work of the city’s Amber Collective, these photographs were a snapshot of a bygone era in the North East. Capturing the period during, and Post industrialisation, the gallery’s walls felt tender with the images of people and places that wouldn’t usually be displayed in such a space. Traditionally adorned with 18th and 19th century oil paintings, the representation felt like a light relief. It got me thinking, maybe these documents could be capital H History too?

In East Cleveland, very little tangible evidence of ironstone mining and steel production remains. A highly divisive topic, the overnight demolition of the Dorman Long Tower and subsequent demolition of Redcar Blast Furnace has led to a collective amnesia about the region’s not too distant past. However, sitting on the site of the former Loftus Ironstone mine (and the first in East Cleveland), Land of Iron’s team of dedicated volunteers and 6 paid members of staff, welcome visitors all year long. Although extraction of Ironstone ended at Loftus mine in 1958, the museum is still classed an Active Mine, with visitors being given a tour of the mines’ ventilation shaft and haulage drift entrance. They can also view our permanent exhibition space about life in the Iron Valley, and temporary exhibition in the Tom Leonard Gallery, which is at present, is displaying previously unseen images by Graham Smith and former Amber Collective member Chris Killip’s Skinningrove series. 

My work primarily involves working with school groups, with our most popular workshop offer being the Ironstone Mining Experience. Teaching young children about the history of their area is rewarding, as local history is a key part of the Primary curriculum, but I am keen to use the collections to maintain relevance with young audiences in an economically deprived area. My most recent ventures have seen me explore STEM opportunities by becoming a STEM Ambassador, and embarking on a fledgling Folk Dance Education programme with the assistance of a donation of Longswords from the English Folk Dance and Song Society, which shall see the intangible dance, once performed by Ironstone miners, revised in the area. I am also keen to have more young people join our board of trustees so the board seeks to serve a broader range of the museums stakeholders.