Barking and Dagenham Council is delighted to announce the next steps in the development of the Women’s Museum, a socially engaged exhibition and community space in East London, which will give platform to the experiences of women, girls and allies from the area and beyond.​

Partnering with the EFG London Jazz Festival, the new public programme commences on Saturday 18 November with a series of workshops and performances curated by Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf including new audio and movement-based performances by artists and creative practitioners Lesley Asare and Jazreena Harlow, musician and broadcaster Dr Hannah Catherine Jones and designer Claire Mason. ​

In tandem with the programme comes the launch of the new visual identity for the museum, also conceived by Mason.  Drawing on women-led activist movements with references to signage and banner making traditions, the large W and M from the new logo are drawn directly from historic source materials found in the borough’s local Archives. In direct visual citation, the logo is based upon letterforms that have passed through the actual hands of the women of Barking and Dagenham and is also a tribute to the legacy of all people making banners everywhere in demonstration of voice, communities and social change.​

Designer Claire Mason says: “Banners are powerful, immediate and urgent graphic messages often pieced together with whatever tools and materials are to hand, be it masking tape or needle and thread.  When developing the identity for the Women’s Museum it felt crucial to reference the febrile history of political activity of women within the borough of Barking and Dagenham. Working with the borough’s Archives, historic images of women in protest and the banners made by their hands are at the heart of the visual identity.”

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The public programme event will also feature the unveiling of a new artwork by artist Meera Shakri Osbourne, the first in a series of commissions by contemporary artists which will form part of the inaugural exhibition at the Women’s Museum, set to open on International Women’s Day, Friday 8 March 2024.  Curated by Schandorf, the show entitled An Idea of a Life has been conceived to respond to everyday histories of the women-led community who lived in nearby Barking Abbey from c.666AD to the early 16th Century. The exhibition will connect the voices of the Abbesses and nuns who ran and shaped daily life there with contemporary women, femmes and folk, finding a common ground between the past and the present to connect current lived experiences from this area of East London with those who historically made this religious site – a place of economic influence and socio-political power uncommon to women of the time - their home. The exhibition will feature additional works connected to the seasons that will develop over the course of the exhibition by Lesley Asare and local artist Sarina Mantle.  It will also include ongoing archaeological research led by the Council’s Heritage Services on the history of the Abbey, funded through a Heritage Lottery grant.

Councillor Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Engagement, said: “We’re so proud to celebrate women, past and present, who have paved and continue to pave the way with their invaluable contributions in our community and beyond. As our brand-new and very exciting Women’s Museum takes shape, please keep your eyes peeled as we’ll be sharing our journey towards the official launch on none other than International Women’s Day in March 2024.”​

With final building works commencing at the Women’s Museum space by year end, please get in touch to register for exhibition updates, volunteer opportunities and upcoming carpentry workshops by email at: womensmuseum@lbbd.gov.uk or follow us @thewomensmuseum to join our journey as the museum comes to life.

• The Women’s Museum, located at 4-5 Barking Wharf Square, is a new space celebrating the stories, heritage and role of women and girls in Barking and Dagenham and beyond. Showcasing exhibitions, learning opportunities, events and workshops which highlight the achievements of women, the Women’s Museum is a contemporary space for dialogue, gathering, and from which to consider important issues relevant to our collective and diverse experiences. An inclusive space for people of all identities, abilities and backgrounds - trans and non-binary inclusive - we welcome EVERYONE.
• The Women’s Museum future programming and curatorial leadership emerges from New Town Culture - a pioneering programme curated by the Culture and Heritage Service at Barking and Dagenham Council exploring artistic and cultural practices in the services and systems of public life. Currently, the programme explores how artistic and cultural experience can reframe the work of social care, and the Women’s Museum will particularly platform New Town Culture’s work with Women and Girl’s Exploitation and Youth Justice Services.
• Exhibition planning and ongoing research projects at the Museum are also linked to the borough’s accredited Archives and Collections at Valence House Museum. Valence House Museum and the Local Studies and Archives Centre is based in the heart of the Becontree Estate. The borough’s collection totals around 20,000 objects and a wide range of artefacts which reflect the history and development of the community of Barking and Dagenham.

Creative Team Biographies:

 

Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf is a producer of site responsive performance, audio and moving image in non-gallery contexts. A former resident of Barking and Dagenham, her practice is one that actively seeks collaboration and is informed by the formation of protective networks and cultural archives for those underrepresented or on the periphery of the contemporary UK arts ecology. Her work within the cultural sector includes the development and delivery of high-profile public realm works including commissions for Art on the Underground, Somerset House and the 2021 Smithfield public realm commission with the City of London, Hawkins\Brown and Contemporary Art Society. She is a member of the Art on the Underground Advisory Panel, trustee for Artichoke and Artistic Director of Peckham Platform.

Claire Mason is a publication and graphic designer and educator with an interest in feminist dialogue, strategies of participation, representation and engagement. She has worked with publishers such as Four Corners Books, Bloomsbury, Book Works Studio and Penguin Books UK.  Previous publication design projects include CIA Torture Unredacted and a project with the London-based second-wave feminist print collective, See Red Women’s Workshop, See Red Womens’s Workshop: Feminist Posters 1970-1994. As an in-house typographer for Penguin Books, amongst others, she designed Little Black Classics and Pocket Classic series. Her text-based work has been commsioned by London Transport Museum and the Tyne and Wear Fire Service. As a graphic design educator, guest lecturer and artist she has taught at the School of Design at the University of Greenwich London College of Communication amongst other institutions.

Lesley Asare is a British Ghanaian Multidisciplinary Artist, Tamalpa Teacher training graduate, Somatic Coach, Breathwork Practitioner and Mentor, based in Milton Keynes, UK.  Led by a quest for truth and desire to deeply listen, her practice explores identity, personal histories and the experiences of Black People. Through her work, she aims to create the space for play, stillness, self-reflection, self-discovery, empowerment, transformation and healing.

Meera Shakti Osborne’s practice engages with accessibility and confidence building in both formal education settings and casual encounters. Working across sound, digital media, oil paint, zines, breathing, talking, and dancing, their work explores the potential of art as a tool to share stories that might feel sidelined. In recent years Meera has focused on questions around history making, the ethics of collaboration and processes that allow for flexing, glitches and love.  Meera is a LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Awardee 2023-2025.  Recent exhibitions include department of Unruly histories at Cubitt Gallery and projects with The Drawing Room, Focal Point Gallery, INIVA, Kala Bhavana Visva Bharati, Newbridge Project, Nottingham Contemporary, Peckham Platform and Reprezent FM.

Sarina Mantle is an artist, designer and singer-songwriter based in Barking and Dagenham, London. She works across print, fashion and music, incorporating patterns, florals, sacred geometry, intuitive tribal and ancient visuals to reconnect with the cosmic and natural world.  Mantle regularly facilitates creative workshops for children and adults in London. She is a mother and is the author of the colouring book Women + Patterns + Plants. Mantle founded Wildsuga in 2008 and has an BA in Fashion Design.