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Concerned about visiting independent art exhibitions or planning on putting on an event yourself?
Here’s how artist Julia Cameron made her solo show Kinswomen as socially distanced and safe as possible…
As the UK locked down, photographer Julia Cameron abandoned plans for her exhibition Kinswomen.
Despite months of preparation for the solo show in St Margaret’s Church of Art, in Norwich, work stopped overnight and Julia locked down at home with her family.
‘Of course, I understood the importance of locking down and reducing the risk of transmission, but I was devastated, nevertheless. I had been planning Kinswomen since 2019 – creating new work and thinking about how to curate and display work. It was heart breaking.’
But as restrictions began to lift from July 2020, venue organisers cautiously planned reopening. News came that Julia’s exhibition was to be the first at St Mary’s Church post lockdown.
With no specific guidelines for smaller exhibition venues and Julia’s event one of the first out of the starting blocks, she realised she would mostly have to work out the best way forward herself.
‘I set about resurrecting the event which was scheduled to go ahead from 26th August to 4th September 2020 – but with extensive new social distancing and hygiene measures,’ says Julia.
‘Most of the adaptations have been made in line with UK Government requirements for museums as that’s the nearest type of organisation to exhibitions,’ she adds.
Julia’s exhibition Kinswomen: Camerons and Kings served with Baked Starlings was inspired by an intriguing box of old family photographs and letters Julia found in 2017 after her father died.
She transformed photos of four generations of her family, letters and cuttings into an innovative contemporary art exhibition which invites visitors to reconsider their own family history and identity.
With her husband Simon shielding at home with her during lockdown because of reduced immunity, Julia was also particularly sensitive to making her event especially safe for people most of serious illness were they to contract coronavirus.
‘Shielded people have been starved of cultural events too and I was conscious of wanting to make my exhibition safe enough for anybody in this position to feel really, really safe – like we have done everything we possibly can to make them feel comfortable.’
Here are some of the adjustments Julia has made to ensure her event is socially distanced and hygienic – and some ideas about what should be in place when you are putting on, or visiting, an art exhibition…
Author: Liz Hollis
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