fairhurst/fenwick 2012

In 2011 I began a collaborative project with artist Paula Fenwick. Having found common ground in our fascination for collecting we joined forces to create a ‘cabinet of curiosities for the 21st Century’. Like the cabinets of old we showed the genuine alongside the illusionary and celebrated the seemingly arbitrary nature of the collections of objects found in the cabinets of curiosities of the eras of the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

Like a museum of curiosities or an old fashioned shop, our installation was a mix of the fascinating and the curious, the strange and the uncanny, the real and the imagined, the freaky and the downright funny.

Within the exhibition we created a ‘Secret Cinema’ complete with vintage cinema seating and showed a selection of the curious images we collected on a shared pinterest site.

As curators of the exhibition we invited seven North West based artists to show their work as part of ‘Paula and Jane’s Emporium of Curious Objects.

We were funded by Cross street Arts and Wigan Leisure and Culture Trusts’s Arts Development Programme.

Paula and Jane’s Emporium of Curious Objects exhibition 2012

Jane Fairhurst and Paula Fenwick collaborative installation for their exhibition ‘Paula and Jane’s Emporium of Curious Objects’ 2012

Installation Detail-photographer Jane Fairhurst

Installation Detail-Photographer Neil Warburton

Installation Detail-Photographer Neil Warburton

Installation Detail-Photographer Neil Warburton

‘Paula and Jane’s Emporium of Curious Objects’ 2012- Photographer Neil Warburton

‘Paula and Jane’s Emporium of Curious Objects’-photographer Jane Fairhurst 2012

‘Paula and Jane’s Emporium of Curious Objects’-photographer Jane Fairhurst