The Bowes Museum is proud to announce Remaking Memories Together, an ambitious new exhibition co-produced by young curators in collaboration with artist Zara Worth, university researchers Emma Wood and Vicki Pugh, and Eleanor Thirlway, co-production curator at the museum.
Remaking Memories Together is a community art project which celebrates special places across County Durham, exploring how shared memories, creativity, and storytelling can strengthen connections between people and place.
The exhibition brings together historic and contemporary works, including a rare 19th century optique (also known as a paper peepshow or tunnel book) from The Bowes Museum’s collection, a short film by Carl Joyce, and 32 newly created optiques made by community participants.
Each piece is accompanied by text to give context to the personal and cultural significance of the place depicted.
The project was developed in partnership with County Durham Libraries and TCR Hub. Artist Zara Worth worked closely with craft groups, including the Trashion group at TCR Hub.
Remaking Memories Together was designed to foster a sense of belonging and wellbeing through place-based creative activity inspired by a historic cultural artefact.
The project also sought to provide meaningful social and artistic activity encouraging a feeling of connectedness to each other, to County Durham, and to The Bowes Museum’s collection.
It marks a significant milestone in the museum’s commitment to youth development by giving young people aged 16-25 hands-on experience in exhibition, curation and decision-making.
Through in-depth research into the museum’s collection, the young curators explored the history and craftsmanship of optiques and 18th-century perspective prints to create a bridge between historic and personal contemporary perspectives.
Over the course of many weeks, participants took creative control over exhibition design whilst also working on their own original paper artworks for display alongside those created by other project contributors and objects from the museum’s collection.
Visitors will experience the exhibition layout and design created by the cohort of young creators, who also selected the specific objects from the archives that help to give context to the miniature world of optiques.
The paper peepshows and teleoramas were popular during the 19th century.
By placing these intricate objects at the heart of the exhibition, Remaking Memories Together shines a light on their craftsmanship and storytelling power, linking historic visual culture and lived experience today.
On display in The Hive, Remaking Memories Together offers an intimate and reflective experience to celebrate creativity, care and shared heritage.
Through personal stories about special places, visitors are asked to share a special place on a map they want to highlight and celebrate.
Remaking Memories Together sets out to deepen connections between individuals, communities, and County Durham, and aims to demonstrate the powerful role museums can play in nurturing belonging and wellbeing.
Sadie, a 16-year-old young curator, shared her experience: “I’ve really enjoyed learning just what curation is – looking at both the historical and the creative.
“Planning our own exhibition allowed me to make real connections between objects. Looking into niche subjects like optiques really pertained to my interests, and making our own has been incredibly immersive and fun!”
Remaking Memories Together stands as a testament to the power of giving young people a voice within the walls of a national institution. All participants have received formal letters of recognition and certificates of achievement to support their future development into the arts.
The Remaking Memories Together project and the resulting artworks are now available for public viewing in The Hive at The Bowes Museum. Open daily 10am to 5pm.
