From The Outside Looking In – Memories, Lost Property and Lives Well Lived
There are stories hiding everywhere…
From The Outside Looking In is a new installation / exhibition exploring the stories of the ordinary folk. They have stories hidden everywhere. In forgotten handbags. In old dance halls. In church halls after the chairs have been stacked away. In seaside towns after the tourists have gone home. In abandoned chapels and in ordinary people whose names are remembered only by those who loved them.
From the Outside Looking In is a collection of paintings and curious objects exploring memory, community and changing lives. The next step in the Owd Lasses saga – for more on those click here
Alongside paintings inspired by parties, villages, chapels and coastal towns, visitors will discover a series of strange relic boxes.
Apparently they were found in the basement after various ‘do’s’ sometime around 1978.
Inside are fragments of lives well lived. Lost property. Shopping lists. Favourite sweets. Love notes. Faint traces of perfume. Soundtracks remembered from dance halls and car journeys. Small clues belonging to people who may – or may not – have existed.
There’s Harry, scowling into his pint of mild. Bridie, dancing long after everyone else has gone home. The Mystery Woman in the Pink Hat. Raymond and his Hillman Imp. The Valkyries, determined to keep order and stop anyone having too much fun.
Think of them as tiny time slips into another era.
You are invited to open the boxes, read notes, scan soundtracks and perhaps remember someone from your own life.
Elsewhere, paintings reflect changing communities and places that feel familiar yet strangely different. From quiet harbours and empty chapels to gatherings full of humour, awkwardness and affection, these works are really about ordinary people and the stories that shape us.
Because lives well lived don’t have to be famous.
They just have to be honest.
Exhibition Preview
Saturday 27th June, 4–6pm at Oriel Cardi Bach , Cardigan. The exhibition runs until 30th July… for opening times check out https://www.orielcardibach.co.uk
Join me for the opening with a cheeky Temperance Bar serving Blood Tonic, Dandelion & Burdock and other nostalgic refreshments.
And please…
Whatever you do…
Don’t eat the buffet leftovers.
Tags:
- 1970s Nostalgia, Art Exhibition, British Contemporary Painting, British culture, Cardigan Art Gallery, Ceredigion Art, Community and Memory, Contemporary British Art, Found Objects, From the Outside Looking In, Immersive Art Installation, Installation Art, Lost Property, Memory and Place, Memory Boxes, Mixed Media Art, Mystery Woman in Pink Hat, narrative art, Nostalgia, Nostalgic Art, Ordinary Lives, Oriel Cardi Bach, Parma Violets, Relic Boxes, Social History, storytelling through art, Sue Dewhurst, Vintage Memories, Welsh artist
About Author
Sue Dewhurst is a UK-based contemporary artist specialising in characterful “Owd Lasses” paintings and vibrant rural and coastal scenes inspired by the Yorkshire Dales and West Wales. Her work captures working-class humour, nostalgia, and the grit of everyday life, from bingo halls to windswept farmland. Sue creates original paintings, limited edition prints, and bespoke commissions, collecting stories as much as she paints them. Her artwork is collected by those who value wit, heritage, and connection to place. Explore available work or commission your own Owd Lass at suedewhurst.co.uk.
