Young people from our Amazing Futures youth groups had a great day out in London recently at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Ellie, who attends our East Sussex youth groups, is here to tell us all about it:
We went to the Victoria and Albert museum in London to see their Design and Disability exhibition, which shows different artworks and objects about disability.
It also shows adapted objects to help people with disabilities complete daily tasks and access the same hobbies as those without disabilities.
We went to London by train, and then got on the tube and walked through an underground tunnel until we made it into the museum.
Here’s some of what we saw:
Design and Disability exhibition
There were lots of different things to look at and touch in the exhibition, as well as videos you could watch and listen to.
Some informative displays showed objects that had been adapted to work better for disabled people, such as an Xbox-produced Switch controller. There were handmade adaptations too, like a controller an artist had personally adapted so he could access gaming in a way that worked for him.
A lot of the displays were personal to the artists and what worked for and empowered them, such as accessing gaming, making a statement, being included, and their own personal experiences and struggles when navigating a world that isn’t always accessible. The displays were also about empowering other disabled people too.
There were artworks and clothing too, and items used in protests about disability rights, which were impactful.
Paintings and sculptures
We then looked around other areas of the museum. We looked at different sculptures, some clay, some stone, some of them carved from wood. They came from all different cultures and eras. Some of them were huge!
We also looked at a lot of paintings – some were massive, whilst others were miniature. Some of them were oil, others woven, on various subjects.
Costumes and props
We looked at an area dedicated to theatre, and we got to see lots of different things. There were lots of costumes, not only from theatre productions like Lion King, Wicked, and Matilda, but also from tv shows like Peaky Blinders. There were also props, like a huge polar bear from His Dark Materials. There were smaller puppets too, animal and human, as well as a whole area dedicated to miniatures of sets and stages.
This area had lots of places to sit and watch videos, showing scenes from plays and productions. One had a screen so you could see what was happening behind the scenes whilst the show went on. There was lots to look at here and it was really interesting and fun. We could also put on costumes and play on the interactive screens.
My favourite area…
My favourite area was full of different altars – all of them really detailed. Some were painted, some had gold on them, another was made out of stone, whilst another was carved fully out of wood. It was really amazing to see. I also really liked the huge paintings, lots of which were done by or in the style of Raphael – they were so cool.
It was a super interesting and fun day out!
We got to see so much at the museum, some of the artwork and sculptures were beautiful, and there were lots of places to sit down. At the end we got to go into the gift shop and buy some things from there, too.
A huge thank you from all of us at Amazing Futures to East Sussex County Council for funding this day trip through their Life More Ordinary small grants scheme!
