Curated by Helen Barff and Suzy Joinson, Memory of Clothes is an exhibition that shares the memory of local women and their clothes
The exhibition is based on the curators initial research with local women of the Worthing Museum. Through a series of interviews and workshops, the researchers were able to gather rich stories from the women’s lives though the 20th century. Helen and Suzy then went on to search the Worthing Museum’s collection of everyday dress for item that would illustrate these memories. Their oral histories were gathered into a podcast to complete the project.
A lot of the items displayed referred to the Second World War. This period corresponds to the women’s young adulthood, a time where it said that memories are the strongest. The display includes various artworks made by Helen from materials found in charity shops, like stockings, patterns extracted from women’s uniforms or swimming costumes.