Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre

Tools

Maier, D. ORCID: 0000-0003-1738-2001, 2022. Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre. Lincoln Museum, Lincoln, 08 January-20 February 2022.

Information

Item Type:

Exhibition

Creators:

Maier, D.

Contributors:

Name	Role	NTU ID	ORCID
Bracey, A.	Contributor	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED
Bennett, S.	Contributor	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED

Publisher:

Lincoln Museum

Place of Publication:

Lincoln

Date:

2022

Abstract:

A bummock is the largest part of the iceberg found underneath the water’s surface; similarly, archives contain more material than is regularly seen or accessed. Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre is part of an ongoing artistic research project Bummock: New Artistic Approaches to Unseen Parts of the Archive (Bummock project) led by artistic researchers Andrew Bracey and Danica Maier, with art historian Dr Sian Vaughan. The first iteration took place in the Lace Archive, Nottingham (Barnett et al. 2019; Bracey and Maier 2020) and as a pilot project it established key priorities to be tested in future iterations. Like the bummock of an iceberg, this project is focused on the large part of archives submerged beneath the surface and on items selected from the vast array of material held within archives that are rarely brought out, sometimes forgotten or not known to be held there. Often it is the significant items within archives and collections that are showcased to the public. Decision making for deciding value and routes to access can often be subjectively decided by a narrow field of individuals. This alternative to the tip utilises and celebrates the hidden, unseen, and sometimes even uncatalogued items.

Within the TRC I focused on an individual family member rather than an object. For over four years I was on a journey with Fryn (Wynifried) Tennyson Jesse (1888-1958), the great-niece of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s: being introduced and getting to know her (or a version of her) through research within the Tennyson Research Centre, her publications, and the bibliography A Portrait of Fryn, by Joanna Colenbrander. I have spent time pondering the imagined and remembered narratives that come through the archived items of her life. There are similarities and cross-overs between Fryn’s life and my own; bringing personal and family histories to mind while exploring and researching her narrative. Working from Fryn’s archival objects alongside her biography the overarching approach was one of playful interweaving and exploration of memory.

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