An exhibition exploring a personal experience of ageing and dementia is set to launch at Charnwood Museum.
Georgie Meadows’s Stitched Drawings is a Wellcome Collection touring exhibition that has been seen at museums across the country. It brings together 24 compassionate textile artworks inspired by people she knows or has cared for as an occupational therapist.
The exhibition opens on Saturday 24th January at Charnwood Museum (Granby St, Loughborough, LE11 3DU) and is on display until Sunday 12th April.
Made with skill and using a domestic sewing machine to sew through two pieces of cloth separated by wadding, Meadows’ work reinforces the importance of visual communication in the act of caring, when logic and speech are often elusive.
The portraits hold a reflective empathy, with the confusions of illness set alongside the kindness of the simple and reflective act of looking and seeing.
The tangled threads in each work also highlights scrambling of connections between our brain cells during a degenerative illness.
Short stories accompany the portraits, outlining their daily challenges and triumphs, including the success of a man’s day is measured by his dressing himself and a woman who is hungry but her brain will no longer tell her how to eat.
“This is a unique exhibition and I know many people will be able to relate to the challenges of living with, and caring for, people with dementia.”
“We’re pleased that Charnwood Museum will be displaying the exhibition and I hope people take the opportunity to enjoy these works and the stories that accompany them.”
Person:Councillor Kevin Crook, cabinet member for heritage
Councillor Anne Gray, Charnwood Borough Council’s lead member for leisure facilities, said: “I am really pleased that Charnwood Museum is holding this poignant exhibition which will share important stories around information around ageing and dementia.”
Emily Sargent, Wellcome Collection Head of Exhibitions says: “Georgie Meadows' collection of meticulously crafted images skilfully capture the essence of deep emotion, while also fulfilling a practical function.
“Her stitched drawings act as educational tools, aiming to foster a greater comprehension of the challenges and sensitivities encountered when working with the elderly. Meadows’ portraits possess an unfiltered potency that elicits both empathy and a profound sense of enlightenment.”
More information about Charnwood Museum is available on their website.