The story of things.

"In a museum ‘things’ sit beside one another in sometimes unlikely combinations. They tell something of their own story but also produce new narratives, just by being together.

Working with MMU Special Collections, including the North West Film Archive, Carson & Miller have curated an exhibition that explores ideas of narrative, memory and collections. MMU academic Dr. Patricia Allmer (Research Fellow, MIRIAD) explores the activities of Carson & Miller in an essay written to accompany the exhibition: On Being Touched.

A new artists’ book by Carson & Miller – Scrapbook (the story of things) – has been published by MMU Special Collections to coincide with the exhibition.

In tandem to The Story of Things a Righton Press publication will be launched. Stilled Lives is a new collaborative work bringing together artists, designers, poets and writers from across MMU. Edited by Carson & Miller this limited edition volume features a striking and thoughtful range of responses to the books held in MMU Special Collections, provoking further explorations of narrative, memory and collections."

The exhibition held in the special collections section of the library was something that I had been interested in seeing for a while, It was just my sort of thing. I enjoy looking at old and interesting things, especially ones that have a story to tell. The exhibition comprised of a number of random objects placed together. While visiting the exhibition I didn’t really understand what was going on and what the relevance of these objects were, so with a shallow way of thinking I just took inspiration form the objects on show and the photographs I took. A 'highlight' of the exhibition was the 'stilled lives' book. Sue had showed us the beginnings of this book last year while we in her 'Modern Myth Lab' workshop group. It was good to see the final outcome, and the work inside really inspired me to look further into the special collections library. My favourite pieces in the book, were that of Jacqueline butler, 'garden weeds', Hilary Judd, 'the books I read while waiting for my father', Susan Platt, 'strange library' and Lucy May Schofield, 'in search'. Hilary Judds illustration work was beautiful and definatly stood out for me the most. The book was beautifully bound and embossed on the front, Something id really like to learn how to do!