The Jacket Women: Single Mothers of the Workhouse exhibition – Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse
A new exhibition at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse will explore the lives of single mothers who lived in the workhouse from the 1830s to late 1860s. The Jacket Women: Single Mothers of the Workhouse will feature prints and installations by Norfolk-based artist Maria Pavledis, together with objects representing the lives of women and children at Gressenhall.
Between 1777 and 1948, Mitford and Launditch Union Workhouse – now Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse – was home to some of the most vulnerable people in rural Norfolk. Its purpose was to provide accommodation, food and work for those who did not have enough money to support themselves. Conditions were designed to discourage people from seeking assistance unless they had no other options, which meant long working hours and a limited diet. Families were often separated, with inmates divided up by gender and age. Single mothers became known as the ‘Jacket Women’ due to the distinctive jackets that they were made to wear as part of their uniform.
In this new exhibition, artist and printmaker Maria Pavledis presents work responding to the story of the ‘Jacket Women’, also reflecting on her own experience as a single parent. Pavledis invited members of her community to pose for a series of large-scale prints that will be on display in the exhibition. Drawing on literature and dance, the prints’ ethereal presence and unique texture seek to evoke memory and emotion as well as historical narratives. Also on show will be jackets, created with fragile Japanese mulberry paper. The pieces all explore the diverse personal circumstances that may have led the ‘Jacket Women’ to the workhouse’s door, whilst serving as a testament to their resilience and survival.
The works have been produced using techniques including monoprint, drypoint and etching. Pavledis has also experimented with the process of eco-printing – which involves soaking and steaming organic matter to release natural pigments – using plants foraged on the Gressenhall site.
Alongside this exhibition, a small number of workhouse objects representing the lives of women and children in the workhouse will be on display, curated by PhD candidate Charlotte Kirklin. Charlotte is investigating the material culture of the workhouse as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded collaborative doctorial partnership at Anglia Ruskin University.
