A collaborative textile exhibition exploring work, care, equality, heritage and aspiration
28 September – 19 December 2026
Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery, Truro – Education Space
Artist and inclusive arts practitioner Elaine Foster-Gandey presents Aprons of Work: Voices of Value, a collaborative textile project created with young people from Torpoint Community College and Wave Academy Liskeard.
The exhibition brings together the voices, ideas and creative responses of young people through the making and embellishment of aprons, exploring what work means, whose work is valued, and how ideas around work and equality are changing.
At the heart of the exhibition is a large collaborative apron incorporating the students’ individual work, alongside photography, historic objects and material documenting the project.
The project draws on Cornwall’s rich working heritage, including the lives and labour of bal maidens, miners, domestic workers and other working communities. Through workshops and discussion, students explored both the visible and invisible labour that takes place in homes and communities, considering questions of care, responsibility, equality and value.
The project also encouraged students to think about the future. Discussions explored aspirations, careers and Cornwall’s continuing relationship with its natural resources, including contemporary conversations around lithium mining.
For Elaine Foster-Gandey, the apron is an important starting point for these conversations. Inspired partly by her own family history, including her grandmother and great-aunts in East London who wore pinnies as part of everyday life and were highly skilled makers, the project considers how an ordinary domestic object can carry stories about identity, work, family and social history.
Elaine said:
“I wanted to use the humble apron as a way into conversations about work and value. Aprons have been worn by people in all kinds of occupations, not simply in the home. Through making, talking and sharing ideas, the students have brought their own experiences and aspirations into that history.”
The project has engaged approximately 125 students, with Year 8 students developing embellished textile aprons and Year 7 students responding to questions around future aspirations and the world of work. Students from Wave Academy Liskeard have also contributed to the wider project.
The resulting exhibition celebrates not only the finished artwork but also the voices, conversations, relationships and creative process behind it.
Aprons of Work: Voices of Value reflects the importance of creative learning in helping young people explore their heritage, develop confidence and express their ideas about the future.
The exhibition is presented at Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery from 28 September to 19 December 2026.
About Elaine Foster-Gandey
Elaine Foster-Gandey is an artist, textile practitioner, inclusive arts practitioner, educator and curator based in Cornwall. Her socially engaged practice uses textiles, making and collaborative processes to explore identity, community, heritage, belonging and social history.
Her previous project Hope – Weaving Communities Together brought together schools and communities through a large-scale collaborative textile artwork and was exhibited internationally, including in Venice.