Reel Lives , Cloth and Memory

Stole an hour to myself in the truly wonderful Cloth&Memory exhibition at Salts Mill in Saltaire. In the massive space (160 yards long) that was the old spinning room 23 artists from around the globe are exhibiting on the theme of Cloth and Memory.

My blip today is a detail from Reel Lives by Caren Garfen a UK artist. She identified from census inhabitants of nearby streets, their age on census day 1891, their job (spinner, doffer, worsted reeler...). You can see from the ribbon the address they lived at - all streets adjacent to the mill.
Something about this particular piece I found really moving, odd that in this vast space that it was the small reel and it's inscription about one time in one life over 120 years ago that should stir me. The hall itself holding the smell of lanolin and machine oil from an age gone still hold memory.

Talking to the two ladies working in the gallery this afternoon they said that a couple of women had been in who were excited to trace the names from one of these reels directly to their own family.