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John Styles |
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projects: threads of feeling |
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Threads of Feeling. ÔThreads of FeelingÕ is an exhibition of the mid-eighteenth century
textiles preserved in the records of LondonÕs Foundling Hospital. Almost 5,000
of these fabrics survive, pinned to the HospitalÕs admission document for
each child. They form the largest collection in Britain of everyday textiles
from the eighteenth century. Both beautiful and poignant, each reflects the
life of a single infant child. They have never been exhibited. For two decades, from the opening of the Foundling Hospital in 1741
until 1760, the process of giving up a baby to the Hospital was anonymous. It
was a form of adoption by which the Hospital became the babyÕs parent and the
childÕs previous identity was effaced. The motherÕs name was not recorded.
Nevertheless, cases arose where children were reclaimed. The pieces of fabric
were kept as tokens that could be used to identify the child if it was to be
returned to its mother. These textiles, and the stories they tell us about individual babies,
their mothers and their lives, are the subject of ÔThreads of FeelingÔ. The
textiles are tangible evidence of babies abandoned, many destined to die within
a few days or weeks. To see them is a poignant, emotional experience. But the
textiles are also beautiful objects in their own right. Most are colourful, patterned fabrics that served as tokens
precisely because they were visually arresting. At the same time, they
witness a rich social history. They show how ordinary people conducted their
romances, clothed their babies, and engaged with fashion, providing a market
for the cotton fabrics that were fundamental to the Industrial Revolution of
the later eighteenth century. |
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