Connections

The Night that I was Born and In a Teacup reached out to people. They visited people in their own home. They connected to family networks. Many generations of a family were often involved. This gave people a sense of ownership and control over the exploration WSI was conducting into birth and early years: how to celebrate this time; how to support the creativity of parents and children. The art was integral and connected to peoples everyday lives and relationships.

This work was then built on and developed further in A Child's Eye View, when WSI created an interactive installation and performance for children, specifically aimed at under fives. They had been welcomed into people's personal world. Warmly welcomed with tea and conversation. Now it was time to invite people back to WSI's home, Lanternhouse. It was like they were, in the most human of ways, asking the children and their families of Ulverston, Barrow, Broughton, Grange and surrounding communities to come over and play. It was a highly reciprocal relationship.
There were strong aesthetic and creative links between the projects. In a Teacup, inspired by The Night that I Was Born, had explored the idea of dens and womb like spaces. They had utilised ordinary household objects, things which would be familiar to young children, to create an informal, visual storytelling style. All of this was extended and developed in A Child's Eye View. This through line meant that grandparents who had told stories of their childhood, months before, would walk round the installation with their grandchildren and comment on how much parts of it reminded them of their own childhood.