A Central Saint Martins BA Jewellery Design project at the Foundling M - PDF document

Findin g A Central Saint Martins BA Jewellery Design project at the Foundling Museum The main aim of this project was to use the Foundling Museum collections to initiate creative responses by the BA Jewellery Design lecturers and students and through the exhibition of these works to contribute to a growing awareness of the Museum’s significance. The central part of the museum’s collection are the tokens that were left as a lasti ng, but largely undisclosed, connection of a parent to a child and these are eloquent mementos of their separation. These range from buttons, coins, keys, snippets of ribbon and textiles and even bits of jewellery, all of which might have served to unite a parent and a child long after babyhood. Jewellers have a strong awareness of the ability of small, closely held objects to convey the value of a relationship, a locket containing a portrait or lock of hair, a piece that has been gifted or handed down are classic examples. Each exhibitor has produced a piece that expresses both the conflicting feelings the collection elicits - of abandonment and belonging, uniformity and individuality, the loss of identity and the chance for a new life. This project was made possible by Arts Council England funding through the Share Academy programme. Finding Exhibition Connections and Disconnections by Caroline Broadhead The history of the Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children’s charity Coram, is rich and engaging. It is of special interest to those eager to explore the power of objects to denote an emotional connection. The main aim of this project was to use the Foundling Museum’s Collection to initiate creative responses and through this exhibition to contribute to a growing awareness of the Museum’s significance. Eight students and three members of staff of the BA Jewellery Design course at Central Saint Martins have explored the archives and the Museum’s Collections to develop ideas for a piece of jewellery. Another aim of this extra curricula project was to enable students and lecturers to work together as equals. In addition, the project included two ‘Tokens of Identity’ workshops, conceived by the jewellery students and delivered to secondary schoolchildren from Maria Fidelis School and Haverstock School in Camden, which allowed them the opportunity to impart their findings and enthusiasms to younger learners. There are many narratives about the Foundling Hospital’s history that ar e compelling, strong themes of abandonment, regimented living, the lack of intimacy and affection, loss of identity and systems of renaming. The central part of the Museum’s Collection are the tokens that were left as a lasting, but largely undisclosed, co nnection of a parent to a child and these are eloquent mementos of their separation. These range from buttons, coins, keys, snippets of ribbon and textiles and even bits of jewellery, all of which could have served to unite a parent and a child long after babyhood. With such a wealth of stories it is impossible not to compare present day attitudes and circumstances to these histories and our discussions have included changes in attitude towards children then and now and how different countries take care of their abandoned children. Jewellers have a strong awareness of the ability of small, closely held objects to convey the value of a relationship, a locket containing a portrait or lock of hair, a piece that has been gifted or handed down are classic examp les. Each exhibitor has produced a piece that expresses the conflicting feelings the Collection elicits - of abandonment and belonging, uniformity and individuality, the loss of identity and the chance for a new life. Exhibitors: Caroline Broadhead Bl anket for a Foundling The parent when handing over a child to the Foundling Hospital was encouraged to leave a piece of cloth to identify themselves in the event of returning for their child. This piece of cloth was cut from their baby’s clothing or th eir own. I thought about the significance of the cut, the separation of a part from a whole and the hole this must have left behind. Although the foundlings were looked after, fed and educated they did not get the warmth and affection normally associated w ith family life. A blanket usually offers warmth and comfort, but this blanket of glass beads does not offer that sense of protection, it is mostly made up of holes. The parent also left a token behind, sometimes a piece of jewellery. I wove a second - hand double stringed necklace of artificial pearls into the blanket, opened out to form a larger gaping hole – the mother’s loss. Lin Cheung Pinpoint Permanent attachment I have become obsessed with the smallest of details: the pin that holds a textile token onto each page of the billets that documented the admission of every child. The pin is witness to a small but poignant intervention, performed by the departing mother as she pins a token to her baby’s clothing followed by the Foundling Hospital dili gently attaching each textile token onto a billet page as a means of identifying the child with its mother. Small, unassuming and ordinary, the pin is crucial in maintaining identity, belonging, cataloguing and recording what would become the child’s past as he or she assumes a new life. My creative response has been an emotional one, playing with notions of permanence and impermanence, commitment and abandonment and emotional attachment and loss. Whilst the act of pinning is secure, it can be easily undon e – temporary – it makes me think of the mother leaving a last, hopeful gesture for her baby that one day, she may claim back her child. The vast majority of foundlings were never reunited with their parents. Inspired by their stories, I have tattooed a s mall pin on my body – a pin that cannot be undone. Fiona Chong Revalued My pieces were inspired by the billet books, where any distinguishing feature of an incoming foundling was recorded. I started to think about marks of identity and how these become important symbols of presence, existence and belonging. I have interpreted this idea into jewellery by collecting pieces of metal found in the jewellery workshop’s scrap bin and worked each into a new piece of jewellery. My pendants are indications of what the scraps might have become before they were abandoned to the bin and, by stamping quotes from previous foundlings onto them, they each establishes a new and individual identity. Gabriella Garnham Who Are We? Reflecting on my research and int erviews I undertook with some of the former pupils, it occurred to me how little had changed since 1739 with regards to them being able to discover their real identity. Within the lifetime of the former pupils, science and technology has moved on so quickl y. I've imagined harnessing modern developments in genetics and coupling them with current communications. I've considered the role of the tokens in the life of a foundling, and thought how this could be developed for the future. Imagine if, when a child r eceived their hospital ID tag, it included 5 pairs of DNA markers, represented by Emojicons instead of numbers. You could enter your unique Emoji sequence online, find your parents, find your relatives, find out who you really are... Rosie Greener Just An other Number One of the items that I found most touching in the museum was the identification disc necklace with the number 24195. The moment when the foundlings were christened was when they received their new identity and their future at the hospital was set. The impersonal system of identifying them by a number was also used by the armed forces as a system of identification. At the age of 15, foundling boys often joined the armed forces. My response has been to make a christening bangle and army ident ity tags for a foundling with the number 24195 in place of a name. These pieces symbolise how the foundling children often went through life with no real sense of personal identity, as a result of being abandoned to the Foundling Hospital. Here they were expected to conform to a life of uniformity, obedience and often loneliness. Haya Lutfallah Bandage I was struck by the similarities in the architecture of Buckingham Palace and Foundling Hospital and the contrast between the grandeur of these buildin gs and the harsh life led by ordinary people, as shown in William Hogarth’s Gin Lane. I was also struck by the simplicity and directness of the tokens left by the mothers. These tokens were the only link between the mother and the child, once the child was left at the hospital and were sometimes inscribed with a message to mark the occasion. I used sticking plasters and bandages, laser engraved with one of these quotes, to express both a desire for healing and a sense of despair. Maria Militsi Tangible Token/Gold Necklace (used shoe rack - 68x29 cm, steel cast - 12.5x5.7 cm, gold necklace - 40 cm length) Walking down Horsell Road, London, N5 1XL one day in March I came across, separately, a shoe rack and a toddler’s pink rubber clog. Although both these objects were out of place, they had a strong connection. To make this connection stronger, I cast the clog in steel, which differentiates it from its original colour, weight and purpose and mirrors the texture of the rusty shoe rack to integrate them visually. A physical link between the shoe rack and the steel cast is a delicate gold necklace that functions both as a jewellery piece and a security attachment in a futile attempt to keep the two pieces together; a reminiscent of the foundling tokens. Harriet Williams Bedtime stories I am using the silhouette of a butterfly to illustrate the new life the Foundling Hospital gave to the children and I have made a collection of necklaces to show the regimented and controlled environment the foundlings were raised in. Each butterfly is cut from a recycled children's book, stories they may never have had read to them and the different titles represent the lost individual personalities of each child. The fragility of the butterfly portrays the uncertain future given to each child. Puyuan Yang “X” Rescued from the appalling dangers in London at that time, the foundlings were accepted by an institution and lived in isolation from the outside world. They had no knowledge of their parenthood or background, no deeper sense of belong ing. On one of the registration sheets there is a receipt, signed by an illiterate wet nurse with a cross instead of a signature. I think this cross symbolises a foundling’s unknown past and a small event that significantly changed someone’s life. I starte d to notice abandoned objects on the street and brought a plastic ball home to rework it as a small cross mimicking the ‘X’ signature. This work does not belong to the ball’s previous owner, nor to me or to the Foundling Museum, I see it as jewellery look ing for a wearer. Scarlett Zhang Nothing to hold on to Each foundling left the Foundling Hospital with a suitcase, which were all the same and contained the same ‘kit’. I thought about the transition these children were undergoing as they left a very strict routine and made their way into the wider world. The few possessions carried inside were the start of a new life. I wanted to express this feeling of freedom from a very controlled environment and but also the difficulty of starting a new life with so little in the suitcase and with such a large burden. The suitcase on my necklace does not have any means of carrying; the baggage and the handle are separated. I wanted to indicate that this new life might not be easy without the means to manage it - how to carry on your life when there is nothing to hold. Wizal Wang Foundling Barbie I was struck by the difference of what children had to play with in the 18 th century and nowadays. Toys were in short supply at the Foundling Hospital, and children were expected to conform to the rules of behaviour and limit their aspirations. Barbie dolls seem to characterise the present day consumer society, with such an abunda nce of outfits and accoutrements to go with her. This choice is in sharp contrast to what the foundlings had access to and my pieces aim to show this disparity.