The Finished Exhibition!

After sweeping the floor, touching up the paint, and straightening up the fabric displays one last time, on Saturday the 31st of March we opened the doors of Gallery 20 to the general public.  I, and everyone involved with the installation, found it hard to believe that well over a years worth of work was coming to a close.  The vast grey and white space of  Gallery 20 that had once looked like this:

now took on the form of something altogether more bright, exciting, and colourful!

I have loved every minute of this project and to say that it's been a learning curve is a bit of an understatement.  It's not only benefited my University studies, but it's also broadened my understanding of West-African culture and has forced me to question whether sending second-hand clothing to Africa does more harm than good.  For example, are the many highly-skilled domestic industries associated with traditional West African cloth under threat from the many tonnes of discarded clothing items shipped to Africa from Europe, the Far East and America?

Aside from asking myself questions and rethinking my opinions on certain debates and issues, I've also learnt how to 'pack' a mannequin, how to colour scheme fabric groups, and gained an insight in to how to successfully organise and curate an exhibition.  Most of all though, I've been able to volunteer and work in an art gallery - something I didn't think I'd be able to do since choosing GCSE ICT over Art way back in year 9.  Don't hold yourselves back guys!