ELEANOR GLOVER

MAKER IN FOCUS
21 january - 19 march 2023

Eleanor Glover’s work contains narrative elements which develop through the process of making. Drawing upon personal memory, and the stories of others she conveys meaning and metaphor through a wide variety of materials. She has a particular interest in letterforms stemming from her background in graphic design.
She also expresses narrative through shadow theatre and book arts, and works therapeutically with others to help them communicate theirs.

These three foundling figures were made in response to visits to The Foundling Museum, and their archives held at the London Metropolitan Library. Captain Coram set up the Foundling Hospital in 1793 (with the support of William Hogarth and Frederick Handel) for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children”. Over the following years thousands of children were brought there by mothers who had no means to care for them. Each child who was accepted was given a number, and a new name. Mothers left poignant notes and keepsakes (scraps of cloth, fragments of jewellery, in one case, just a hazelnut) often hoping to return and reclaim their child again if circumstances improved.