+0

This large-scale display brings together a magnificent selection of photographs and video clips taken during the refurbishment project.

It casts a unique light on one of the most remarkable restoration and conservation projects undertaken in the UK. It includes fresh discoveries and research, along with original, previously unpublished archival material offering a new assessment of Leighton House Museum.

The exhibition also offers a great opportunity to understand more about culture, history, makers and craft professionals.

Documentary film

Leighton House Museum commissioned Frederique Cifuentes to create a 60 minute documentary film about the restoration project which is included as part of this exhibition.

As well as following the works in the house, the film shows the specialist manufacturing processes of the materials used in the refurbishment. Some clips of the film are also available on the Leighton House website as a permanent archive. The full version of the film will be on sale in the shop.

The refurbishment

Leighton House Museum has been closed for refurbishment since November 2008, and will re-open to the public on Saturday 3 April 2010. As a record of this historically significant event, the photographer and filmmaker Frederique Cifuentes has been commissioned by the museum to:

i) record the process for permanent archive
ii) provide an on-line video diary of work in progress
iii) provide a photographic record of work in progress
iv) create a multi-media display that will appeal to press and visiting audiences on re-opening
v) create a range of learning material that will be disseminated and promoted as widely as possible
vi) organise a photographic exhibition for the re-opening that will promote the value of crafts in the 21st century
vii) produce a commercial DVD of the project (60 minute film of the restoration project).

Frederique Cifuentes has developed a detailed programme of photography and film to document the restoration, museum staff and the many specialists, makers and crafts professionals whose expertise has been called upon over the 18 months duration of this project.

Extensive photography and filming has been carried out on and off site to capture a comprehensive record of the project. This is the best documented restoration of the house to date and is only the second time in the 109 year history of the museum that such large-scale interventions have taken place within the historic interiors.

The artist

Frederique Cifuentes is an award winning photojournalist and documentary filmmaker based in London, where she divides her time between working on assignments for commercial clients and personal projects. Born in France in 1973, she holds a masters degree in Anthropology from the university of Paris-X Nanterre and a Postgraduate Diploma in photojournalism from the London College of Printing.

Her work has been shown and published worldwide. In 2006-2007 she was invited by the Leighton House Museum to be artist in residence and to develop her photographic research on the theme of Orientalism: an art for exploring.

Since then Frederique’s career has followed a long path to photographic archiving and historical recording that has been developed with two major projects, Cinema in Sudan(1) and British Colonial architecture in Sudan(2).

She has extensive experience in project development and management with NGOs such as UNESCO, Action Contre la Faim, UNHCR, Sudanese Mothers For Peace. between 2006 - 2008 she coordinated a series of photographic workshops in the internal displaced persons camps of Khartoum and worked with refugee groups in London. She was a consultant for UNESCO, Department of Media and Communication, managing the construction of the first photographic agency in Sudan.