The Speaking Out exhibition is now open at the Museum of Edinburgh, Canongate. We invite you all to come and visit! In this post we recap the joint opening preview event last Thursday for the Speaking Out and The Real Women of Edinburgh exhibitions.
The Speaking Out project officially launched our exhibition, Speaking Out: Recalling Women’s Aid in Scotland, at the Museum of Edinburgh last Thursday evening with a special preview event along with Shakti Women’s Aid and Edinburgh Women’s Aid who also have an exhibition, The Real Women of Edinburgh: Unheard Story, on display. The exhibitions are both now open and will be running until 28 January 2017.
We had lots of people come along for the preview evening – Gillian Findlay, Curatorial and Engagement Manager for Edinburgh Museums, who has been our lead contact in organising the exhibition, said it was the most well attended preview she’s seen at the Museum of Edinburgh! We started off the evening with drinks and canapes and then Bailie Melanie Main officially opened the exhibitions. Speeches from Marsha Scott from Scottish Women’s Aid, Lesley Orr from Women’s History Scotland and Giri Polubothu from Shakti Women’s Aid followed. We then had a powerful poetry reading from Mridul Wadhwa. Following Mridul’s lead, we all sat on the floor in amongst the exhibition cases and listened as she read a selection of poems written by workers and clients of Shakti Women’s Aid. We were so engrossed you could have heard a pin drop! The night was rounded off with a short theatrical and dance performance by women from Shakti. It was wonderful having so many women associated with Women’s Aid in Scotland, both historically and today, come together to celebrate the history and the achievements of the movement.
Many people contributed over the months to the Speaking Out exhibition – volunteers, women who have generously loaned objects for display, women whose oral history recordings (both video and audio) feature in the exhibition, our designer Kirsty McBride, our filmmaker Helena Ohman, staff from Edinburgh Museums, and the Heritage Lottery Fund whose financial assistance has enabled the exhibition to become a reality. Phew, that felt a bit like an awards acceptance speech! But in all seriousness, this exhibition is the culmination of the efforts of many individuals. In particular, I’d like to give a shout out and a big thank you to our eight exhibition volunteers who, over the course of the summer, co-curated the exhibition content and design: Virginia Knight, Panayota Liopetriti, Morag Macleod, Ilaria Marchi, Paige McCaleb, Isabelle Pollentzke, Claire Rennie, and Chloë Spence.
The exhibition features historic promotional items, leaflets, minute books, and the Scottish Women’s Aid banner among many other artefacts, a listening station featuring extracts from oral history interviews, a short film, and contemporary creative material made by Edinburgh Women’s Aid art group and Shakti Women’s Aid weekly women’s group. Why not stop by the museum over the next couple of months to have a look? (Please note the Museum of Edinburgh is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays).
Alongside the exhibition, we’re running an exciting programme of events which can be found here: https://womenslibrary.org.uk/events/category/speaking-out-events/
Tell your friends!
