A new permanent installation showcases LGBTQ+ people’s responses to objects in RAMM’s collections.
The new Stand + Stare installation is part of the National Lottery Heritage funded project Out and About: Queering the Museum, run in partnership with the University of Exeter. The project aims to empower lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities to uncover, create and share existing and new LGBTQ+ heritage at the museum.
LGBTQ+ people selected objects from our collections that resonate with them in interviews with the Out and About project team – the University of Exeter’s Professor Jana Funke and socially-engaged writer Natalie McGrath. Visitors can explore extracts from these sessions using an interactive display created by design studio and project collaborators Stand + Stare. Stand + Stare said:
“We wanted to make an installation that would fully celebrate the LGBTQ+ voices and amazing stories within it. We wanted it to both stand out and fit in to the museum setting. The inspiration for the butterfly came initially from seeing the collection of butterflies at the RAMM, which connects to themes that arise within some of the stories around transformation, beauty and spreading your wings.
There are two ways for visitors to enjoy the work – firstly through selecting and listening to the personal stories connected to the extraordinary array of objects, and secondly by standing with your back to the installation so you can become a giant butterfly yourself!”
Ellie Coleman, RAMM engagement officer, has also been working as part of the project team. She said:
“The aim of this new Out and About installation is to celebrate LGBTQ+ heritage and encourage visitors to explore the collections from different perspectives. At RAMM we are dedicated to creating platforms for underrepresented and marginalised voices, and the new Stand + Stare interactive display will allow us to share oral histories from LGBTQ+ people and explore ways of telling our shared history.”
Professor Jana Funke and Natalie McGrath said:
“It has been an absolute joy and privilege to interview other LGBTQ+ people, many of them with a connection to the South West, for this installation. The interviews represent a new archive of LGBTQ+ heritage and open up fascinating perspectives on the museum collections.
“We often rightfully focus on how difficult it is to access LGBTQ+ heritage, which has frequently been erased and devalued. It is all the more important, then, for the interviews demonstrate the overwhelming richness of LGBTQ+ voices and histories. The beautiful and playful installation, designed by our collaborators Stand + Stare, offers the perfect home for these stories, and we cannot wait to hear what other museum visitors make of them.”
The Out and About Stand + Stare installation will be available to view from Friday 18 February 2022. More information on Out and About can be found at outandabout.exeter.ac.uk.
