Photo exhibition explores our relationship with treasured childhood items
An Edinburgh College photographer has been asking people to take a trip down memory lane and rummage in their old toy boxes to share their most treasured childhood items for a new exhibition.
Simon Moorhouse’s Nostalgia exhibition features photos of adults with their favourite childhood toys and memorabilia, exploring their attachment and the stories behind the strong bond they feel with these items.
Nostalgia is on at the Creative Exchange in Leith until 5 June.
Simon graduated with distinction from an HND Professional Photography course at Edinburgh College, and now works as a learning assistant in the college’s photography department.
He stumbled across the inspiration for the exhibition when he was looking through old belongings and found the first cuddly toy that his mum had knitted for him, Charlie the monkey.
Simon (above) said: “I thought to myself, I’ve gone through so many moves over the past few years, from Sheffield to Edinburgh, and it has always moved with me for some reason. I never really knew why.
“That intrigued me a little bit, because we live in this sort of throwaway society where we’re quite happy to buy new TVs, new printers and everything like that. Back when I was younger we used to send our TV to the repair man, or have one come round to the house to fix it. Now it is so easy to throw them away and get a brand new one, but we always seem to keep these little trinkets. I wanted to find out why.”
Simon says the most interesting item he has photographed so far was an old chemistry set from the 1960s (above). He said: “Some of the stuff you would get in a chemistry set then would be illegal in a chemistry set today. The owner, Stewart, has stuff missing from the set. But some of the stuff, like the chemical powders, were just very peculiar. Stewart went on to work in science, he had the kit from being about four years old, he loved science and went on to become a science technician and work with children at a science centre. Now he’s an actor, but he still holds on to the chemistry set!”
Now that the exhibition has taken shape, Simon wants to expand the project outside of Scotland. First, he wants to go back to Sheffield, his home town, then carry on further down the country to photograph his connections in London and Cambridgeshire.
Simon is also keen for anyone with a nostalgic childhood item to come forward and share their stories through the Edinburgh College Facebook page and Twitter, and is offering a free professional photo shoot at the college for one lucky winner. Post a photo of your own item and tell us in one sentence why it is important to you. Simon will choose his favourite entry.
Nostalgia will be on show at Creative Exchange, 29 Constitution Street, Leith, until 5 June. Creative Exchange is open Monday -Thursday 9am-5.30pm and Friday 9am-4.30pm. Admission is free.