The back of textile works are often unexpectedly beautiful in an unintentional, less recognised or acknowledged way. It is the same with the stories of children’s lives as they grew up in the yards of old Norwich in the interwar period.  

It is these ‘two sides to every tale’ that I have chosen to explore in my installation. Amongst the many memories of hardship, poverty and challenge are beautiful, entwined stories of children growing up with community, freedom and joy. 

This place-based installation – a curated collection of embroidered memories, images and poetry – mimics the washing lines strewn up in King Street yards where children used to play. Memories are taken directly from archive photographs and local oral history accounts, interspersed with poetic responses and observations of childhood objects from the period. 

Firstly, this piece aims to give some insight into the lives of children who grew up on King Street in the interwar period. Secondly, I hope it also helps viewers recognise that archival memories are never neutral: they are charged moments that impact our views of childhood past and present. What can our collective memories help us know about the past? Where are the gaps, or the ‘rose-tinted’ perspectives? Perhaps most importantly, how do they help us consider what our hopes might be for children in the future?