Forgotten Tale is an immersive installation by the artist Clarisse d’Arcimoles who meticulously recreated a life size, three-dimensional black and white photograph of a Spitalfields home in 1902.
The work invites visitors to literally step into the picture frame; to be transported back to the Victorian era and to contemplate the circumstances and long forgotten stories of the picture’s subjects in a sensory environment.
Found in London’s Bishopsgate Institute archive, the original photograph shows a poverty stricken family of hairbrush makers in their home in Spitalfields – an area once known as one of the most notorious slums in London.
The image is a record of hardship, but it also reflects a strong sense of working pride and familial tenderness.
