Finding Family
Until 27 August 2023
The Foundling Museum
40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ
One word, with many meanings: ‘family’ lies at the heart of all our lives and is considered one of the most important units of society. Uncover and explore new perspectives on what family is and can be, through this original, insightful exhibition – if you think you know what family means, think again.
Finding Family is an exhibition that questions the idea of family through art from the 17th Century to the present day. Involving participants of Tracing Our Tales, the Museum’s award-winning programme for young care leavers, Finding Family presents their creative responses to works of art and the exhibition’s themes, from the context of their own lived experience, with challenging, moving and surprising results.
In partnership with The National Gallery, the exhibition includes three large-scale masterpieces from the Gallery’s collection, by Hogarth, Gains-
borough and the Le Nain Brothers. Shown alongside works by contemporary artists and poems by the Tracing Our Tales participants, visitors are invited to look afresh at these well-loved works of art and to question their assumptions. Works by contemporary artists who have responded to the theme of family, as well as newly commissioned pieces, further enrich the exploration of the themes, revealing changes and continuities over time. Contemporary artists loaning work include Matthew Finn, Sunil Gupta, Chantal Joffe, Gillian Wearing and Hetain Patel, alongside Mark Titchner, Annabel Dover, Tamsin van Essen, Harold Offeh and Helen Barff who have created new work.
Photo caption: William Hogarth, The Graham Children, 1742 © The National Gallery, London
