The final exhibition using an archive of Barrow photographs will be launched next month.
Going Through the Mill explores the history of the town’s paper mill through photography, film, objects and poetry.
It will include a unique selection of paper mill photographs from the Sankey Family Photographic Collection with reflective new work created with local groups in collaboration with artist Nicky Bird as part of an artist commission.
The exhibition will take place at Cooke’s Studios, 102 Abbey Road and will be open to the public from Wednesdays to Saturdays for a month from March 26 to April 23.
Nicky has been working with Signal Film & Media for over four months to develop relationships with the Sankey volunteers and a new women’s history group as well as ex-papermill workers to further explore the Sankey Family Photographic Collection.
Going Through the Mill was initially inspired by the never-before-seen, volunteer-curated photographs of Barrow’s paper mill featured in Signal’s earlier exhibition Sankeys: Extraordinary and Everyday at the Dock Museum which ran from October to January, where Nicky was struck by the photographs of women paper mill workers captured by the Sankeys in the early 20th century.
She said: “These photographs raise all kinds of compelling questions about these women’s lives and history of the site of the former paper mill, which itself may dramatically change over the next few years.
“It has been a real privilege to hear local women’s own stories of their working lives at the papermill – so very much within living memory.”
From 2019 the National Lottery Heritage Fund has supported the vast community-focused project to explore the Sankey Family Photographic Collection.
Local volunteers supported the cataloguing and research of the collection throughout the duration and co-curated the mix of online and in-person exhibitions with the support of project manager Julia Parks.
She said: “We’re super excited to present Going through the Mill and cannot wait to share the incredible portraits of women working in the papermill that the Sankeys took over 100 years ago.
“These exquisite photographs allow us to see the papermill site through their eyes, to connect with people who worked there and to uncover their stories.
“The exhibition marks a bittersweet moment for Signal – as it bookends what has been a really special and unique project – with so much effort from people locally to bring this collection to life for generations to come.”
