On the Record – Holding the Baby

In 2017 I worked with storytelling co-operative, On the Record to create a compact travelling exhibition, titled Holding the Baby. The exhibition was the culmination of a long running oral history project where audio recordings about parenting and child-care in East London were collected.

The key purpose of the installation was to share these moving experiences, making the knowledge and perspectives of older generations available to younger people, and also provoke discussion about childcare and parenting issues today. Alongside this, we also had to ensure the robustness of the build as all elements of the exhibition needed to be able to be dismantled and moved to a different location easily. The installation took the style of a 1950s living room, including comfy armchairs and retro wallpaper, to make the space welcoming and comfortable.The central aspect of the space was a repurposed 1950s radio, into which we installed a modern audio system and 2 pairs of headphones from which the visitor could sit and listen to the audio stories.

The exhibition launched at Plaidstow Library in February 2017 and travelled to Newham’s libraries from March 2018 to February 2019.