The now quiet space of National Museum Cardiff’s contemporary art galleries has most recently played host to the Museum’s first full-scale series of photographic exhibitions. The artwork displayed comprised part of the museum’s first ‘Photography Season’, presenting work by four photographers: August Sander (1876–1964), Bernd (1931–2007) and Hilla Becher (1934–2015), and Martin Parr (b. 1952). While Parr’s exhibition sat opposite the contemporary art galleries in the Museum’s designated photography gallery, Bernd and Hilla Becher: Industrial Visions was shown on the upper level of the contemporary spaces. The Bechers’ work was thematically linked to that presented downstairs, ARTIST ROOMS: August Sander (October 2019-March 2020).

For myself and two other fabulous volunteers, March marked the end of a three-month exhibition evaluation placement as part of the ARTIST ROOMS programme within Sander’s portrait photography exhibition space. I would like to briefly expand upon the role that I undertook in this two-part blog and highlight the value of the process of collecting and collating exhibition evaluation feedback.

It is valuable to give a few details of the photographer August Sander (1876–1964). Sander was a German-born photographer and in 1911 began the first series of portraits for his seminal work People of the 20^th Century. ARTIST ROOMS: August Sander presented over eighty photographs – produced as part of this project – which classify individuals according to profession and social class. The portraits are placed on long-term loan to ARTIST ROOMS, a UK-wide programme jointly delivered by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. The ARTISTS ROOMS programme’s aim is to show the work of each of the 40 artists it represents in dedicated solo exhibitions across the UK. Through ARTIST ROOMS important works of art can be widely seen by visitors and, importantly, it also gives young people the opportunity to get involved in creative projects, learn more about art and artists, and develop new skills.

My role, as one of the three exhibition evaluation placements, was to allow visitors to ARTIST ROOMS: August Sander a chance to fill in an online survey on one of two iPads lent to the museum by ARTIST ROOMS for its duration. The survey asked the visitor a multitude of questions about their experience of the exhibition. It also asked some statistical questions, which could be omitted or simply passed back to us to reset.

Additionally, we chatted to visitors in the exhibition space, including those who wanted to discuss the exhibition informally with us. As the weekends always tend to draw in a diverse and greater number of visitors, at least one of us tried to come on Saturdays for a few hours to do the surveys, as well as undertake at least one shift during the week, sometimes in a pair, occasionally all together and at other times singly.

The second part of the blog expands upon my reasons for wishing to undertake this placement and the importance of exhibition evaluation.

Last week, we launched an online questionnaire asking for your experiences and feelings of living in Wales during the coronavirus pandemic. From the responses we’ve received so far, it seems that a number of you are finding comfort and peace of mind through making – from quilts to facemasks, scrub bags to small embroideries. The connection between making and improved mental health is of course widely-known, with studies showing that craft and the visual arts can help to alleviate anxiety and stress in some people.

The textile collection at St Fagans includes several pieces which reveal the historic interplay between craft and mental health. These include needlework stitched by sailors on long voyages away from home, to more formal forms of occupational therapy made by convalescing patients. In all cases, we can only assume that the repetitive rhythm of the making process, and the focus required to complete the task, must have benefitted the makers in some way. I say ‘assume’ because the voices of these makers are usually missing from the narrative, which makes documenting current experiences of crafting through the pandemic even more important.

One of the most poignant pieces in the collection is a tablecloth made at Whitchurch Hospital, embroidered with the signatures of a group of soldier-patients and staff in 1917. During the First World War, the Cardiff City Mental Hospital (as Whitchurch was then called) was ceded to the military and became known as the Welsh Metropolitan War Hospital (1915-19). Civilian psychiatric patients were moved to other institutions, while injured soldiers returning from the frontline occupied their beds. From 1917 until 1919, the hospital specialized in both orthopaedic and mental health conditions.   

The signatures embroidered on the tablecloth include two important figures in the history of psychiatric care in Wales – Dr Edwin Goodall and Matron Florence Raynes. Goodall, an eminent psychiatrist who trained at Guy’s Hospital in London, was appointed the first Medical Superintendent of Whitchurch in 1906, two years before the hospital opened. He was awarded a CBE in 1919 for his pioneering treatment of shell-shock. Florence Raynes was also a trailblazer in her own right, being the first woman to have overall responsibility for the hospital's entire nursing staff. 

The exact reasons for creating the tablecloth are unknown. Was it made as a form of occupational or diversional therapy for the soldiers? Could it have been an exhibition piece or a fund-raiser? Or perhaps initiated as a memento for a patient, nurse or doctor? Despite several attempts in recent years to unravel its history, the tablecloth remains a mystery. 

In general, the feelings and intentions of makers are frustratingly absent from our records, and we know very little about the emotions of the people who crafted the historic objects in our care. How did they feel about making in times of crisis, ill-health or confinement? What did the creative process give them? If you're finding solace in your sewing machine or knitting needles during these difficult days, please consider sharing your lockdown crafting experience with us through the questionnaire. We want to hear your story to ensure that the wellbeing benefits of making in the present do not go untold.