Life mimic’s art

I’ve been working on the latest show at the Foundling Museum that will bring together works by Mat Collishaw, Tracey Emin and Paula Rego for the first time . The contribution the artists have offered up are a combination of new and pre-existing works in a variety of media that correspond to the themes of the Foundling; childhood, motherhood and abandonment. In Tracey’s case, one of her offerings was to recast some items from the series of bronzes that she had created for the Folkstone Tiennial in 2008 called “Baby Things”. These inconspicuous, lifelike pieces appear as if dropped by a child or its mother in a rush, such as a crumpled pink sock on a step or a little teddy bear under a park bench. The key item in this series was a pink mitten; apparently dropped, seen by a stranger and perched on a railing in the hope its owner would reclaim it on passing and reunite the pair.

It was after the Volunteers’ Christmas Party at the Museum, I joined the hard core stragglers for a last drink in the pub round the corner. As we walked along Judd Street, just before Handel Street (named after one of the Foundling Hospital’s famous governors) I spotted a child’s pink mitten on the railing, identical to the mitten I recognised from the photograph of the bronze in Folkstone. I couldn’t believe it! The next time I saw Tracey I told her the tale and showed her the photos on my mobile. She was fascinated and asked if I had kept it. I guiltily admitted that I hadn’t because I didn’t want to disturb it and hoped it would be found. She agreed this was exactly the reaction she hoped people would have to her work. The original mitten she’d based the work on was found in Glasgow, another personal link for me as Glasgow is my spiritual home. The found mitten near Handel Street disappeared from the railing fairly shortly after my discovery but the bronze mitten can be seen outside the Foundling Museum and has been given by Tracey Emin as a permanent installation.

It has been a mighty adventure in a relatively short period of time but the exhibition is now ready to unleash on the public.  I’m enormously proud to have been part of this project, particularly as I leave the Foundling this week for a new job in a bigger museum. This personal story of the mitten is the conclusion to an article I have been working on for issue 2 of Slashstroke Magazine. The exhibition will be open on Wednesday 27 January until 9 May at the Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ. Nearest tube station, Russell Square. www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk

Words: Olivia Rickman

Found mitten placed on raling outside the Foundling Museum.

Mat Collishaw's work arrives at the Foundling Museum.Image by Philip Pelka.