York’s National Railway Museum has opened a temporary exhibition that showcases authentic and underrepresented stories about disability, alongside 20th century railway artwork.
Titled Go as You Please, the exhibition opened on 8 February, and explores rail travel from the perspectives of people with lived experience of D/deafness, disability and neurodivergence.
It features objects from the collection, including railway artwork and marketing posters.
Part of the national Curating for Change programme, Go as you Please also includes a specially commissioned original artwork called Shifting Landscapes by neurodivergent artist Hayley Wall.
Object labels for the exhibition include quotes from community participants and in a first for the museum, the exhibition includes many accessible features such as QR codes that lead to an audio descriptive tour, portable object labels and a British Sign Language exhibition overview.
The exhibition includes a film called We Do Get Out and About (created by Manchester-based filmmaker David Bewick) which has subtitles, a transcript and British Sign Language interpretation.
Go as you Please is curated by Amy Thraves-Connor, Curating for Change Fellow at the National Railway Museum.
Amy said:“I hope visitors are drawn to the exhibition for its eye-catching artwork and are encouraged through this artwork to engage with stories they otherwise might not have thought relevant to them. The unexpected narrative explores the experience of travel and destination from a range of often overlooked perspectives. I want visitors to the exhibition to make their own interpretations and memories from these artworks and feel encouraged to question their thoughts around disability.”
Curating for Change is an England-wide programme that offers fellowships and traineeships to D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent curators and was founded to challenge the underrepresentation of disabled museum professionals.
The programme aims to build a more diverse sector workforce, which is representative of the wider population, and to encourage a broader range of narratives to be explored in museums and galleries.
Curating for Change is delivered in partnership with Screen South and the Accentuate Programme and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and Arts Council England.
Go as you Please is on display in the National Railway Museum’s Highlights Gallery in Great Hall until June. Find more information here.
