New Forest Heritage Centre > Social Practice Lead > 2023
‘Embroidered Tales; Hidden Histories, Silent Voices’ > 2022 Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund awardee, Arts Council England.
The project aims to deliver an innovative, co-created 3D digital avatar of the New Forest Embroidery. Originally commissioned by the New Forest Association in 1979 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the creation of Nova Foresta by William the Conqueror, the embroidery is over 6m long and 70cm high and presents a narrative history of the New Forest and its changing seasons.
The 3D digital avatar will enable multimodal experiences of the embroidery and activate new understandings, conveying stories and experiences of communities, hitherto largely obscured by conventional accepted narratives of the New Forest, and sharing polyvocal and diverse understandings of local heritage and histories.
Emulating the community-focussed approach to making the embroidery - it was created by over sixty volunteers - the project will be an equitable collaboration in which community participants (beginning with participants from the Romani communities and LGBTQ+ communities) will work together with New Forest Heritage Trust staff and heritage experts from the academic and commercial heritage sectors. The project will exploit ground-breaking digital technologies that help disseminate their stories to global audiences. Using photogrammetry and Reflective Transformation Imaging, the project will provide audiences with a dynamic, multi-dimensional experience both onsite and remotely. Participants will be able to overlay the conventional historical narratives conveyed by the Embroidery, with alternative stories and experiences using digital audio, film images and text. This will constitute an enduring, sustainable output which can be augmented and added to over time by further contributors.
A key feature of the project - one intended to enable more equitable access to the Embroidery by challenging the ocular-centricity of museum displays in vitrines, is the production of three tactile panels produced per each section of the Embroidery. The three panels will represent the same region of interest but will be reproduced using different techniques and finishes to facilitate engagement and tactile exploration. The models will replicate the texture, design and structure of the embroidery and will be suitable for all audiences but intended particularly to allow people with visual impairments to learn, feel and engage with the Embroidery. The panels will also contain built in sensors which will be triggered by touch to activate audio information.
A key aim of the project is help embed our socially engaged practice and help us establish stronger and enduring partnerships within local communities which will provide the foundations for long-term consultation and future partnerships and collaborations.
Central to the project’s ambitions is the ability to produce a beneficial outcome for all participants, including the development of new skills, positive learning experiences, confidence and aspiration building, and awareness of future opportunities within the heritage sector.
Key responsibilities of the role:
Build strong relationships with the Romani and LGBTQ+ participant communities, and under-represented individuals/voices identified in the project, including providing ongoing support and advice to those groups
To coordinate, plan and organise visits and activities which focus on the heritage collections of the New Forest Heritage Centre (NFHC)
To provide advice and support, together with NFHC staff and volunteers, to participants accessing, researching and interpreting objects and documents with the collections of the NFHC
To help plan, devise and deliver content for an innovative digital avatar of the iconic New Forest Embroidery and 3-D haptic relief panels with embedded audio sensors
To be responsible for the development and delivery of the project’s social media presence
Contribute to project evaluation and reporting procedures and write update-reports for funders
To have a strong commitment to the principles and practice of equality and diversity
