- Venue
- Fox Talbot Museum
- Starts
- Saturday, January 3, 2009
- Ends
- Sunday, June 28, 2009
- Address
- Lacock, Wiltshire SN15 2LG
- Location
- South West England
Appropriating the images and words left behind by Hannah Cullwick (1833-1906) a maid-of-all-work. Artist, Alison Marchant has searched the archive and through a process of deconstruction has created a broader thought provoking message as installation. Cullwick was a self-declared slave to her upper middle class lover Arthur Munby and she was proud of her work and position in life. Cullwick had presented herself to the camera in guises from lady to servant which Marchant has enlarged on aluminium as sleek contemporary photography presenting a tableax which echos and foreshadows the works of many contemporary women artists. By contrast, Marchant has also rephotographed Munby's pocket size carte-de-viste collection of working women (including his notations on the image backs) and has pinned and arranged these tiny photographs in glass cases like a butterfly collection, titling the work to reposition the viewers gaze. Marchant's intriguing re-interpretation of this archive speaks volumes about women's labour, social and class barriers, and the use of photography in creating a multi-faceted portrait of one woman.
