Second
Sight Multisensory workshop for The Blue
Route by Kaarina Kaikkonen, May 2013
Although we had both helped Naomi as volunteers, this was
the first Second Sight workshop I (Hattie Lockhart-Smith) and Katie Bailey had
run and we were very keen to keep the sessions as similar to Naomi’s as
possible.
The exhibition currently at Fabrica Gallery in Brighton
until 27th May 2013 has been created using around 300 shirts donated
by residents from Brighton and Hove and Oxfam. The shirts have been strung
across the gallery space in rows their arms stretched out, cuffs touching, each
row slightly lower in the middle than the last until the shirts touch the
gallery floor. Starting at the highest point white shirts slowly turn to baby
pinks and blues, the colours gradually changing to darker blues, deep reds,
stormy greys and charcoal black as the shirts become lower in the gallery
space. A single yellow shirt in the middle of the white shirts stands out in
the cool palette of the piece and draws your eye up the installation towards
the chancel end of the gallery space.
Through the creation of an audio description and a walk
through and around the exhibition, the handling of objects including seashells,
denim, ornate picture frames and religious artefacts, the smell of blue
hyacinth, aftershaves and perfume, the taste of blueberries and listening to
blues music and the sound of the sea on Brighton beach recorded by Katie we
were able to create two very
enjoyable workshops.
A few of the areas which were discussed over tea and
biscuits were wash day on a Monday which would always mean cold leftovers for
tea, the use of blue bags to make your whites whiter, boats, the navy and
uniforms, the symbolism of different shirts – work shirts, dress shirts and
casual shirts, the making of blue dye using indigo and the huge number of
stories and people attached to all the individual shirts in the exhibition and
the enormous amount of social history they represent including the emotional
connections to clothes left behind by loved ones who have died.
The Monday group was also treated to Connie singing us a
beautiful song her father had taught her about a baby being wrapped in a shirt
and during Tuesday's session Phil was even talked into playing a tune on a mouth organ!
The Blue Route Fabrica, Brighton, May 2013.
Both I and Katie were pleased with how the sessions went
and are looking forward to the next Second Sight which will be towards the end
of July 2013.
