an introduction
The PhD asserted that an archive is a powerful narrative space whose structure can be manipulated to unveil and illustrate ‘dubious’ and hidden stories. This hypothesis was tested through a practice-led enquiry that constructed an archive as illustrated space which re-establishes the identities of five fairground females through the utilisation of traditional signwriting and illustrative storytelling.
Embedded within fairground heritage, both the research and practice elements of this enquiry are informed by an insider’s appreciation of its rich history: the life-stories are collated through archival research and the collation of oral history.
PHD SUBJECTS
context and background
The illustrated spaces which were presented as a series of exhibitions took on a multitude of contexts, forms and visual languages but were each governed by a set of constraints: each iteration held a series of signs that chronologically told the female in question’s life-story.
Here, the intention was to bring to light how the females played an active role in the formation and organisation of fairgrounds across the country: their role going far beyond that of their counterparts in other contexts.
In the Twentieth Century fairground, the female was expected to not just be housekeeper and mother, but secretary, accountant, worker and business partner.
Their involvement with the industry varies from: necessity through the loss of an husband, aptitude by showing a talent for a specific role, or purely from family heritage.