Event Details
An overview of the exhibition "Shirts, Singers and Sewing". Collaboration with Conflict Textiles is detailed in the middle panel. (Photo: Clem McCartney) |
| Exhibition : | Shirts, Singers and Sewing |
| Description: | This exhibition details the history of shirt factories in the North West; the people, the buildings and the collections. The project is a partnership between the Tower Museum, Inner City Trust and the Fashion & Textile Design Centre. It incorporates textile collections linked to the factories and other textile project collaborations developed over the years.
The inclusion of Conflict Textiles in this exhibition has its roots in connections developed through the The Art of Survival: International and Irish Quilts exhibition (2008), curated by Roberta Bacic and displayed at nine venues throughout the city, with the Tower Museum being one venue. This initial collaboration developed into a series of exhibitions and associated activities addressing conflict, war and human rights abuses as experienced by women and their communities from across the globe.
Web links:
Shirts, Singers & Sewing
My Granny was a Factory Girl' Song by Sadie Norris & Roy Arbuckle. A Covid-19 Lockdown Production 2020
From shirts to arpilleras: Derry’s textile heritage continues..., Kyra Reynolds "Derry Journal", 3rd August 2021 (also included in documents section below).
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| Commissioned by: | Derry City and Strabane District Council, Museum and Visitor Service |
| Date(s): | 24th May 2021 - 31st August 2021 |
| Venue: | Tower Museum, Derry / Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Union Hall Place, Derry / Londonderry, BT48 6LU, Northern Ireland |
| Curator: | Bernadette Walsh |
| Facilitator: | Tower Museum |
| Outcome: | Despite covid restrictions still in place the exhibition was well attended especially by local people who had family connections within the Shirt Factory industry. International visitors reported a surprise that the city was home to so many factories in previous decades. The exhibition resulted in a growth of queries linked to the archive collections within the Tower Museum and it also resulted in a number of small donations of items.
The addition of a piece from the Conflict Textile collection was a valuable tool in demonstrating the role of textiles in telling stories across countries, boundaries and cultures. A role all too evident in the Conflict Textiles collection and one we hope to continue to support.
The exhibition programme will open at the Fashion & Textile Design Centre on Shipquay Street on 8th September until December 2021. It will include a further engagement programme and will also include an app of oral history interviews developed by a colleague from the University of Ulster. |
| Documents: |
• Conflict Textiles display panel, May 2021 - view
• Exhibition press release, 11th May 2021 - view
• K. Reynolds, 3 Aug '21, Derry Journal article - view
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