Gaps Between Installation launches in Oxford city public spaces on 14th June 2017

gaps between small section

Using prominent railings on iconic buildings in Oxford City Centre, the ‘Gaps Between’ installation includes images that celebrate Oxford’s alternative and sometimes hidden stories, using photographs, artwork and archival material.
The ‘Gaps Between’ Installation highlights and celebrates some of those people and stories, aiming to widen the perception of ‘what is Oxford?’

On the railings of the Radcliffe Camera, arguably one of the most recognisable buildings in central Oxford, there will be a selection of three images including Professor Merze Tate. Professor Tate was the first African American woman to attend the Oxford University as a student at St Anne’s College in 1931 and was a world-class scholar (selected by historian Dr Imaobong Umoren). Dr Umoren also selected a photograph of Kofoworola Moore from Nigeria, who, in 1935, became the first African woman to graduate from the University of Oxford. She is also notable for writing a first-hand account about her experiences in Britain, which appeared in colonial expert Margery Perham’s 1936 edited collection, Ten Africans. This will sit alongside an image put together by Oxford Women in Politics (OxWiP) who collated images of African women at Oxford and asked them to select a picture of their Oxford.

In addition to researchers’ selections, photographs and stories have been chosen by community groups in Oxford, including Ark T Centre in Cowley and Young Women’s Music Project (YWMP), Arts at the Old Fire Station and Modern Art Oxford.

“The University of Oxford is always proud to support thought-provoking research and community-led initiatives, said Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. The ‘Gaps Between’ Installation, together with the ‘Oxford Alternative Stories’ mobile app, raises the profile of some of the hidden stories of people and places in Oxford.

I would like to congratulate TORCH and the IT Innovation team for developing a wonderfully creative new way for people to discover Oxford’s many diverse voices, stories and collections, particularly those which have frequently been overlooked. The University of Oxford is delighted to support this exciting new mobile app, which showcases ‘Oxford’s Alternative Stories’.”

This project has been funded through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Vice Chancellor’s Diversity Fund.

For more information, please see: http://torch.ox.ac.uk/gaps-between-installation.