Making Material Memories

About the exhibition

The Making Material Memories exhibition at Market Gallery displayed the outcome of a research project by Charlotte Goldthorpe. It brought together craft and storytelling, focusing on nine recollections. In 2015, Goldthorpe began to collect donated stories at her ‘Lost Love Cafés’. The narratives documented relationships from the care of parental love to the fleeting passions of brief encounter. The exhibition showcased the embodiment of these experiences in the making of material memories.

Goldthorpe processed elements from the gathered stories into bespoke craft artefacts. The narratives dictated the choices of materials, techniques, forms and processes. These included leather working, silicone casting, brass soldering, forging, wood and metal turning. Goldthorpe has developed new processes – often in collaboration with skilled craft practitioners – to realise these finished works.

Throughout the research process, friendships have developed between participants and craftspeople, allowing new stories and memories to be made. The artefacts that were on display in Making Material Memories resembled objects that have been lost, forgotten or are still in existence in daily life: rolling pin, brass shoes, football, medal, trainers, toilet dolly, handbag, box camera, watch. Everyday objects imbued with emotion.

Making Material Memories was first displayed at Dean Clough Art Gallery in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

About the researcher

Charlotte Goldthorpe is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield. From 2003-2006, Goldthorpe worked as a freelance art director/assistant in film and television. She has commercially designed and produced bags and accessories. In 2007, she qualified as a Design and Technology teacher from Goldsmiths University and taught in East London for several years before being awarded an MA in Fashion Artefact at the London College of Fashion.

In 2015, Goldthorpe exhibited ‘Absence’ at the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence as part of Polimoda and IFFTI’s Momenting the Memento conference and installation series. Absence was a collection of objects linked to individuals in the artist’s life, playing with the absence and presence of owner and object. It combined heritage and modern production techniques to compel the objects to appear to portray 'ghosts' of their former selves. Goldthorpe is currently working on a craft practice-based PhD in the School of Art, Design and Architecture, exploring storytelling and the transmission of memories through making.