Drawings and Notes from Helston Folk Museum

On Friday 19th Oct I spent the morning drawing at Helston Folk Museum. I wanted to explore the way objects can carry a sense of narrative, time or trace. Whilst in the museum I became interested in the fragments of information the veiwer is told about an object. I liked not knowing much about an object - just a name and a date - it allows you to imagine, like a child's story book with the words missing and only the pictures remaining.

Whilst I was drawing a pair of battered miners boots I began thinking about the significance of mark-making. I began drawing them with a continuous line, thinking about the line representing a trace from the past to now. I also left parts of the drawing missing, and focused on certain details - I was thinking about the way memory works, we clearly remember some details from the past but forget others.

When I was drawing a group of dresses in the museum an elderly man began talking to me. Afterwards I noted down from memory fragments of our conversation. It seemed to add to a sense of narrative linked to my time spent there.