‘Reclaiming Lunacy’ -An artist-led creative drop-in explores the real lives of disabled people at Ripon Workhouse

Ripon Museums, in conjuction with two London-based disabled artists, has created a new exhibition exploring disability within Ripon Workhouse, thanks, in part, to funding from Historic England’s Everyday Heritage Fund,
By Natasha Audsley
Published 11th Aug 2023, 12:03 BST
Updated 11th Aug 2023, 12:04 BST
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Museum staff and volunteers researched the stories of disabled individuals who lived in the Workhouse before working with Ripon Disability Forum and Henshaw Arts and Craft Centre to develop an artist brief.

In the development of the brief it was decided that it was important to appoint a disabled artist to lead the project.

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Following a recruitment process, the museums appointed two artists; Kate Lovell, who is a neurodivergent and disabled theatre maker and writer and Aisling Gallagher, who is a disabled artist, director, and creative access practitioner.

New exhibition 'Reclaiming Lunacy' explores the real lives of disabled people at the Workhouse Museum & Garden.New exhibition 'Reclaiming Lunacy' explores the real lives of disabled people at the Workhouse Museum & Garden.
New exhibition 'Reclaiming Lunacy' explores the real lives of disabled people at the Workhouse Museum & Garden.

Both artists have worked with participants from Henshaw Arts and Crafts Centre, Ripon Disability Forum and the wider Ripon community to help create new interpretations of the research materials to be displayed at the Workhouse Museum.

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Inspired by the social model of disability the artists encouraged participants to make vibrant and loud banners that reclaimed the historic language used to describe disability and to also boldly mark the lives of disabled people who lived in the Workhouse.

The only marks previously left by Workhouse inmates were their names and disabilities recorded in the Workhouse records or within the census.

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These powerful and personal pieces of work can now be viewed in the dining room at the Workhouse Museum & Garden, integrating disabled people's stories into the museum.

Dr Laura Allan, Community Curator at Ripon Museum Trust said: “We were thrilled to welcome Kate and Aisling to Ripon Museums to run several artist-led sessions within our community, and it has been exciting to see how these works have been developed into an exhibition exploring the lives of disabled people.

“These are important stories to tell and we are thankful to Historic England for enabling us to tell them”.

For more information about the exhibition and how to attend visit https://riponmuseums.co.uk/events/event/disabled-lives-matter-artist-led-session/

Related topics:LondonHistoric EnglandMuseum