Elizabeth Turner

Un/Common People

Touring exhibition collaboration between Wessex Museums Partnership & the Museum of British Folklore (2024-2026)

  • Introduction panels to the exhibition 'Un/Common' people
  • View of a worn brown leather mule and a selection of oyster shells found in the roof of the Cathedral School
  • 3 heavily worn brown leather shoes, the two on the left are 16th-17th century, light brown and dusty. The shoe on the right is dark brown leather and 18th century. All three shoes are flat with no heel. They all have broken down backs of the heel.
  • At the other end of the case there are two further shoes, on the left is a mule that has been repaired using straw and mud and the shoe on the right is facing forward and have a hole in the toe and a broken down back
  • View of one end of the glass display case containing three heavily worn brown leather shoes from the 16th century, 17th century, and the 18th century

Exhibition exploring folk culture in Wessex with each hosting museum displaying a selection of their objects alongside those selected for the touring exhibition. Following my thesis on concealed textiles and their place in museums, I worked alongside curators Amy de la Haye, Simon Costin, and Mellany Robinson and was responsible for curating the display of shoes from the Salisbury Museum’s collection. I also contributed research to their text interpretation. Although likely concealed for apotropaic reasons, each shoe tells the personal and often poignant story of the unknown people whose lives are enmeshed with the buildings they once built, repaired, and ultimately inhabited.

Press/Links

The Museum of British Folklore – UN/COMMON PEOPLE

Academia.edu – Woven into the Walls (Unpublished MA Thesis)

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