Museum of Ordinary People

Posted May, 2018

We were delighted to take part in a pop-up museum that celebrates the power of objects to tell stories about their owners.

The Brighton-based project aims to chronicle the “magic and mundanity” of everyday life, and “celebrate the ripples people leave behind”. It also offers an alternative to the established, traditional canon of museums. The Museum of Ordinary People (MOOP) showcases a collection of discarded, discovered and reclaimed items such as diaries, love-letters and photographs that represent ordinary people whose stories are waiting to be told.

The ultimate aim is to end up with a permanent space in Brighton – a museum that celebrates the power of objects to tell stories about their owners (in the same vein as the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb and LA, and the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul). You can click here to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign to help fund this permanent exhibition space.

We exhibited a jar of front-door keys, collected from women staying at our refuge, which symbolises leaving their homes and putting their abusive relationships behind them.

Keys 2

“When women come to our refuge they no longer need the keys to their front door, as they don’t plan to go back home. We keep them in a glass jar, and it’s a powerful representation of the end of their life of abuse. When I look at the keys I feel a sense of optimism, as it means there’s a new more positive future. But also sadness at what these women have been through to get to here.” Jo Gough, RISE CEO.

The exhibition will run for the final week of the Brighton Fringe festival, May 29th-June 4th June, and is at the Spire, Brighton BN2 5JN.

You can click here to find out more about the project: www.museumofordinarypeople.com