First Ballet Show, 1990s
This was taken before performing in my first ballet show with my dance school. I’m pretty sure I had a white tutu on underneath this very 90s jumper! Dad couldn’t do my hair or stage make up, so my Grandma always did this for me. The silver tinsel had to be added after the plaits were crossed over the top of my head – quite a fiddly procedure! This sparked one of many photographs taken in my grandmas living room with dance costumes on or just showing off new clothes. The wallpaper was always changing in the background – she must have changed it every year!
Image: Amy Stevenson
Living Room Catwalk, 1990s
I remember this day well. I’d been out shopping for my birthday and had been bought several new outfits. I was very excited to show them off to everyone and remember putting on each one and posing for photographs. I was so pleased with my black velvet hat with brooch on the front (if you know you know!). The wallpaper had changed again in Grandma’s living room.
Image: Amy Stevenson
Hospital Curtains, 1980s
This photo struck me as very of its time as there were orange/brown fabric curtains hanging up at the hospital. This must have been Leighton hospital in Crewe – and my elder brother’s birth.
Image: Kenneth Stevenson
Childhood ‘Care Bear’ Wallpaper
On display in the Open House exhibition are four photographs by the artist David Moore from his ‘Pictures From the Real World’ series taken in Derby in 1988-89. One of the photographs is a vibrant image of a bedroom. The door has a wrestling poster on it but in juxtaposition the wallpaper contains patterns of care bears sliding down rainbows and floating on clouds. This was my childhood wallpaper – and the first one that I remember! Both David’s photograph and the wallpaper transport me right back to my childhood. A time when I often felt carefree and went into my own imaginary world of magic and making up and performing dances. It’s amazing how imagery has the ability to unlock memories and feelings that are buried within your mind somewhere!
OPEN HOUSE 