An Interactive Exhibition
We facilitated our sixth workshop on the 22nd March 2025 at the Deptford Lounge. We thought we’d add another string to our bow and try out a different structure for the day by designing an interactive exhibition. The idea behind this was to create a freer structure to the day, as we opened the exhibition up to anyone 18+ and had no fixed time for arrivals. We wanted visitors to be able to choose the terms for their visit – whether to make a fleeting or extended visit, whether to simply observe or to contribute to the exhibits, and what this contribution might look like. We liked the idea that as the day went on the exhibits would grow and build – somewhat tethering a connection between participants even if they weren’t visiting at the same time.
We set up a variety of exhibits:
- A recording booth: Taped to the walls were questions from the WRAP archive. We left instructions for visitors to record their own answer to a question of their choice. The booth was covered to give visitors a sense of safety and anonymity.
- Vulva painting: A table set up with lots of materials – tissue paper, glitter, pastels, pens, glitter pens etc. We had pages of different interpretations of vulvas to give people inspiration, however we left it up to each person to trace a new outline – they could use inspiration from existing drawings or come up with something entirely new, and then were encouraged to decorate it however they wished! This table had some really beautiful conversations going whilst people got creative. There were chats about vulva stigma, shame, perceptions of pubes, symmetry, cleanliness and much more. The social aspect to this table was really lovely.
- A sex education timeline from 1989 – Present: We hung up a timeline with a number of significant events related to sex education history dating from the original Women, Risk and AIDS Project to the present day. Our instructions were for visitors to contribute either other public significant events we’d missed, or to add a date that was significant to them and their relationship to sex/sex ed. The idea being to reanimate this section of history within the context of what was happening in our visitors’ lives at the time. We enjoy the subjectivity in sexual experience - something that is very significant to one visitor so much that it makes it onto the timeline might not even have occurred to another.
- Data Poem: Using a successful activity from previous workshops we set up a station for participants to create a data poem from a selection of WRAP interviews we’d laid out. We wanted participants to cut out ten lines that resonated with them, and left instructions to feel free to throw pages up in the air and randomly select a few that caught their eye! We’re constantly instilling the idea of not putting these archives on a pedestal, and being able to experiment with form. We wanted visitors to arrange their chosen lines into a poem that could either follow a story, point of view or simply highlight some ideas about sex and relationships they felt were important.
- ‘Things I Wish I’d Known’ - Our instruction for this station were simple. This was another station where we wanted to tether a connection between visitors on the day, whilst also encouraging some personal critical reflection. We asked visitors simply to use one of the cards on the table to share a lesson they’d learnt along their own journey with sex and relationships that they wish they’d known when they were younger. Every time the board was added to, the visitor was leaving a message for whoever came along next.
By approaching our practice differently for this workshop, we were able to inject some freshness and innovation into our ideas and how we engaged with participants. There was less of a group dynamic, but we had the space to engage with each visitor on a deeper, one-to-one level. It allowed visitors the freedom to engage with the work more on their own terms, which encouraged more introspection. As much as bringing the conversation outwards is still vital, sometimes we can find empowerment and build confidence through quieter self-reflection and deep thought.
Towards the end of the day, a pivotal conversation happened between Otts and filmmaker Stefania Silvestri, who found one of our flyers in a local café. Stefania is one half of Carwell Caswell Productions, a multi-award winning studio specialising in documentary and experimental film. Much of their work focusses on explorations of the self, the body, pleasure and shame. Our work stood out to Stefania as her most recent directing accolade was the short documentary Vulva - exploring vulva diversity and insidious genital shaming. You can view a short snippet of this documentary here: Vulva
A new journey might be beginning pretty soon so watch this space…
