National Museums Liverpool Blog - Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Last year photographer Lee Karen Stow launched her exhibition '42' Women of Sierra Leone at the International Slavery Museum, with the help of her former student Rebecca Kamara, who is one of the 42 women featured in the exhibition. At the opening events Rebecca spoke about how the photography workshops that Lee taught in Sierra Leone have inspired her to earn a living as a photographer. She has faced huge challenges, as she lives in a rural village and didn't even have any electricity at home until recently - something that photographers in the UK take for granted to charge camera batteries and run their computers!

Lee returned to Liverpool last week to add some new photos to her exhibition. Rebecca couldn't join her this time, but Lee visited her in Sierra Leone in September and took the photograph above, which should bring a smile to the face of anyone who met her last year. As you can see, Rebecca has built her own photo studio, with help from UK and US donations and support, but also through her own photography business and photographic sales. She has now also set up a women's photography group in the village.

Rebecca isn't the only one who has been busy. As well as updating the 42 exhibition, while she was in Liverpool Lee gave a talk about her latest projects. A chance meeting with a member of the Women's Boxing Team in Sierra Leone led to the 'Fighting for Gold' project. On her return to the UK she photographed women boxers in clubs across Yorkshire for the 'Girls in the ring' project, and even started boxing herself.

The contrasts in conditions for women boxers in the two countries is shocking. In Sierra Leone the Women's Boxing Team train at a gym with no running water, no showers and no free NHS to help with any injuries. They didn't even have their own gloves when they first started to train and had to borrow gloves from the male boxers.

Despite this, when women's boxing was included in the London 2012 Olympics for the first time they were determined to compete. Unfortunately this dream was not to be, so they have now set their sights on the 2016 Olympics instead. Portraits of some of these inspiring women are now included in the 42 exhibition, which is at the International Slavery Museum until 3 June 2012.

Amulets of different shapes were placed within the wrappings of ancient Egyptian mummies. From about 1500 BC an amulet in the shape of a heart was a popular addition to protect the mummy from harm. Here are a selection of stone and glazed composition heart amulets from World Museum's Egyptology collection for you on Valentine's Day.  

We are delighted that World Museum has been named as one of the top 20 museums shortlisted in the Sunday Telegraph's Family Friendly Museum Award. Thank you if you were one of the people who nominated the museum. 

World Museum, along with the other museums on the list has demonstrated to Telegraph readers that it has activities, events and displays that any family can enjoy and the basis for a great day out. 

The Sunday Telegraph said: "Liverpool's World Museum is full of historical things you can actually touch and has its own planetarium." 

If you'd like to get involved in the judging process, you can enter you and your family as mystery judges by emailing award@kidsinmuseums.org.uk. Visit www.telegraph.co.uk/museumawards for more information. 

Here's what Sunday Telegraph readers said of World Museum: 

"I love this museum because it’s not scared of being old-fashioned. There are objects in glass cases, even in the hands-on area. It’s always full of kids and adults touching and talking about amazing real things — fossils, skulls, crystals. The staff there are so knowledgeable and interesting, and always willing to join in conversations.” 

“Our seven year-old granddaughter loved the aquarium, planetarium, meteors, shadow puppets from Malaysia and dinosaur footprints. You come out and truthfully say, 'We’ve been all around the world!’ Thinking of taking 94-year-old Grandad next week.” 

This illustration is taken from the Inquires and Reputations presentation in the forthcoming Titanic and Liverpool: the untold story exhibition at Merseyside Maritime Museum. It was created by the artist Julia Quenzler who sketches real life court room scenes for the BBC and shows Bruce Ismay being questioned at the British inquiry into Titanic’s sinking. This part of the exhibition looks at accounts from crew and passengers given at the inquiry in 1912.

The aftermath of the sinking is a key theme in the exhibition. The world’s reaction and disbelief to news of Titanic‘s loss are highlighted in newspaper reports and film which will be on show in the exhibition. Often fickle and inaccurate press reports were released as families waited anxiously to hear if their loved ones had survived. In this part of the exhibition we tackle these difficult and emotional responses to events which lasted a mere 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Reputations were made or ruined during the immediate inquiries into the loss of Titanic - firstly held in America and later in London. Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Star Line received much of the blame for the disaster. American cartoons represented Ismay as a cruel businessman when in fact he had been left traumatised by the disaster. One of the telegrams to be displayed in the exhibition was sent from Captain Rostron of Carpathia (the rescue ship), dated 15th April 3.10pm. It described Ismay as ‘under opiate’ due to the loss of Titanic and many close friends and colleagues.

Titanic and Liverpool: the untold story opens at Merseyside Maritime Museum on 30 March 2012.

It is half term next week which can only mean one thing: 7 action-packed days of things to see and do at National Museums Liverpool!

Starting on William Brown Street, channel your inner supermodel in the Big Booth at the Walker Art Gallery on 15, 16 & 17 February 2012.  Grab your flares and strike a pose because the photo booth, big enough for the whole family, will be kitted out in a retro style with costumes and props, to celebrate 'Feathercuts and Flares' the Walker’s display of 70s fashion.

Down the hill at World Museum visitors can have a close encounter with beasts of a prehistoric kind in the exhibition 'Age of the Dinosaur' featuring six life-size dinosaurs set in a Jurassic forest of 65 million years ago. Open daily, the admission charges are £6 adults, £3 children and concessions, under 5s free or £14 families. Avoid the queues and book online (no booking fees).

Also look out for the new daily show, 'Chronicle of a Journey to Earth' in the newly refurbished planetarium.

At the Albert Dock and waterfront holiday fun continues with craft activities inspired by the most famous ship of them all, the Titanic, at the Merseyside Maritime Museum (14 & 15 February). While the International Slavery Museum is celebrating the half term with a free showing of Disney’s The Frog Princess (16 February).

From 14-17 February the wonderful new Museum of Liverpool is the place to be for any budding Indiana Joneses. The History Detectives will be exploring the archaeology of Merseyside from the Ice Age right through to the present day, injecting jokes and the occasional tune to help delve into the museum’s archaeological collections.

Out of town, Sudley House is hosting a craft event for children with an eye for style on 16 February. Inspired by the exhibition Costume Drama families can design their own colourful outfits.

At the Lady Lever Art Gallery Chinese New Year celebrations continue with a free performance of the Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra on 15 February.

For more free things to see and do check the website for details.

I always think that the best way to finish off an outfit is with a great pair of shoes. These fantastic metallic snakeskin-effect leather shoes are my favourite from last year. They were great for a fantastic wedding I went to in November as well as for Christmas parties! They have a small platform as there have been loads of 70s influenced trends around lately. 

If you like 70s fashion, we've got a fantastic exhibition of 1970s clothes on at the Walker Art Gallery right now - 'Feathercuts and Flares'. There is a pair of red and silver crocodile-skin leather platforms on display (below) that definitely remind me of my shoes. 

They were made by Terry de Havilland who is famous as the maker of stage shoes for many of the glam rock stars of the early 1970s, including people like Mick Jagger and David Bowie. His signature material was snakeskin, both natural and metallic. They certainly make a style statement!

And if that's not enough fashion for you, we've also got a 'Fashion Fix' week of events starting on Monday 13 February, also at the Walker.  There'll be fashion workshops and the chance to dress up and have your picture taken in our 1970s photo booth.

It'll be the perfect warm up to London Fashion Week, starting on Friday 17 February...

It’s the last chance to see Peter Blake’s An Alphabet at the Walker Art Gallery this weekend. Not only is it a display of 26 exquisite collages that draw upon Blake’s fascination with typography and popular culture, it is also an excellent place for toddlers learning to read, as I discovered on a trip to the gallery with my three year old.

‘Look mum an ‘A’… and a ‘B’… and a ‘curly C for cat’… and a ‘D’…’ and so on until all 26 letters were accounted for. ‘What shall we see next?’ I said. ‘Let’s do it again’ was the fairly predictable reply.

Luckily there is a well placed bench in the middle of the gallery, but if you are coming with your little alphabet-enthusiast maybe bring a pillow.

Michelle Walsh, Assistant Curator of Maritime History tells us about the Charles Dickens maritime link:

As Sam has mentioned, today marks the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, born 7th February 1812. This reminded me of the small model, currently on display in the Life at Sea Gallery, of the stateroom that Charles Dickens and his wife stayed in on their voyage to America.

Dickens and his wife were given a first-class stateroom for their 14 day voyage from Liverpool to Boston, USA in 1842. Despite this accommodation being luxurious by the standards of the time, Dickens did not feel it lived up to the advertisement by the agents. He comments in his travelogue American Notes for General Circulation;

 "…that this utterly impracticable, thoroughly hopeless, and profoundly preposterous box, had the remotest reference to, or connection with, those chaste and pretty, not to say gorgeous little bowers, sketched by a masterly hand, in the highly varnished lithographic plan hanging up in the agent’s counting-house in the city of London…"

He later stated "…nothing smaller for sleeping in was ever made than a coffin."

If you’re looking for something different to do this weekend, look no further than World Museum.

To tie in with the current exhibition Age of the Dinosaur there is a jam-packed weekend of dinosaur themed events, talks and activities.

On Saturday from 11.30am - 4.30pm the whole family can have their picture taken with a dinosaur! Using green screen technology your picture will be superimposed onto a picture of a fearsome dino! (Prints will be priced at £2 or free on production of a ticket bought that day for the Age of the Dinosaur).

And throughout the weekend you can explore dinosaur digestion and find out how the biggest animals ever to walk on land digested their dinners.

Ever asked yourself who’d win in a fight, a T. rex or a Spinosaurus? With a new generation of giant killer dinosaurs being discovered you can weigh up the evidence and work out which of these super predators would have come out on top in a battle of titans.

You can also listen to experts give talks from 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s talk, entitled Digging for Dinosaurs in Hell Creek will be given by Dr Phil Manning from University of Manchester and Sunday’s talk given by Dean Lomax from Doncaster Museum who will talk about Extinct Marine Reptiles.

As you can see, it’ll be dino crazy so why not come along and for a full timetable of what’s happening click here.