wrap them around you

We've been working with a group of carers at Warrington Museum, trying out ideas for re-labelling museum objects, using emotional connections with the artefacts rather than historical ones. This week we focussed on writing. Participants were interviewed about their lives as carers. They then inter-cut lines from these interviews with descriptions of objects that attracted them around the museum...

Josie working 

Egyptian coffin



the people surrounding

never forget you

wrap them around you.

Care – you can't say what it is. It's

a living thing. Sometimes

you achieve it, sometimes failing

can be rewarding – it's reality.

I escape for a few minutes

grateful for small things

family and friends

are important

wrap them around you

to protect you.



Josie

16 July 2013

Interview

Care, a way of life. My caring has gone on for my daughter, child to adult. Care – you can't say what it is, it's a living thing, changing, challenging. It can be rewarding. Light and dark. You show you care with your actions, doing the right thing.

They're vulnerable, need support. Sometimes they'll ask and they know they can turn to you. The dark side is how much it can take out of you, in time, in mental worry, the strain. But then you know you have got to look after yourself so you can look after the person you're caring for. That's what keeps me going, the boost, the little bites here and there. That side no one sees.

It's taught me to be grateful for small things and appreciate life more. I can look at my daughter and she can't get out of life what I can. She doesn't get that inner life. I see a pigeon on the roof and I escape for a few minutes, she doesn't.

I was wild, didn't think I'd have kids, now I'm the opposite. It's changed me as a person for the better. I have more patience and I try to help others. People come to me with problems – I try to help and I panic cos I haven't the answers. But having patience is the main thing and taking time to learn about them.

Some days it's up, sometimes down. Sometimes you achieve, some fail. It's not even a learning curve, it's all over the place. The outside world affects it. My daughter likes to control, things in their place. Then a visitor comes in and it upsets all the balance that we might have taken days to achieve. You can't control it. It's difficult at the time, but it's reality. You've got to let them witness reality and yet somehow protect them.

Josie interviewed, 16 July 2013