The past few weeks have seen the growing collection of dusters from my Women & Domesticity project exhibited at the University of Brighton’s Grand Parade site. They are strung across the foyer outside the cafe and enjoy the perfect position for passing people traffic. It’s been so exciting to over hear conversations about them on days when I’m teaching at the same site, I’ve also received some fantastic feedback in person and via the blog.
I was also delighted to be invited to speak at the University about this project during the Storying the Self Symposium organised by C21 Writings, which was held on the 29th March and happily coincided with the duster exhibition. I shared a panel exploring materiality with two other fantastic speakers, Jenni Cresswell and Lyn Thomas, which lead to some really interesting discussions about the language of cloth and washing line!
I take the display down tomorrow to make way for a new exhibition, but here are a few highlights.
I ran a workshop on International Women’s day (8th March) inviting staff and students to create their own dusters to contribute to the exhibition.
Hanging the dusters with help from Martha, Freya and Nadia.
New work (above) inspired by the workshop. I’m really enjoying the collage direction this is taking.
View from the mezzanine level above
A few of the dusters on display
Tea and cake opening event – complete with a very yellow cake – iced like a duster!
Vanessa Marr 