Finding new ways to showcase stories

At Storylines we’re always exploring new ways to showcase stories creatively. For the Withy Lore project this saw us sharing extracts from the project’s oral histories through both a listening station and series of collaged stories. Using found imagery and old postcards, these collages illustrate sections of the stories we heard, presenting them as open books.

Listening Station and Story Collages

We wanted the stories to be as accessible as possible, so as well as QR codes for each story, we created a listening station within the exhibition. It’s lovely watching people of all ages use the player. At this listening station people can sit and choose a story, simply placing the corresponding card into the audio player to listen. All the audio stories we have made are now on our vimeo channel, linking the collage images with the audio. Here’s one from Barry from Mullion…

Film Loft

As well as a listening station we’ve also created our own cosy net loft. Inspired by the net lofts and fishing stores we’ve spent the last year visiting, this provides a place to watch the project films we’ve made. Each is different and provides a personal reflection of someone’s connection to the craft.

Sensory and story prompts

We knew from the outset that we wanted the exhibition to be as immersive as possible. With this in mind we created a series of circular text panels which encourage visitors to engage with the exhibition using all their senses, as well as share their own stories with those close by. The panels also emphasise key nuggets of information that link to the stories and artworks on the wall.

The exhibition runs until 30^th June 2025 so we hope you get along to enjoy it.

This project has been made possible with thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, FEAST Cornwall, Cornwall Community Foundation, the St.Aubyn Foundation and the Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust.