lost and found

A tiny mitten, cast in bronze and stuck on a railing, by Tracey Emin. It's so easy to miss as you walk up the steps into the Foundling Museum. If you come across it, as I did, on the way out it is an unbearably sad reminder of the tokens the mothers left with their babies as they delivered them to the Foundling Hospital. The museum is in a windswept corner of what's left of Brunswick Square, and it always lowers my spirits, even though it has the most beautiful rooms, thoughtful displays, and even a cheering cafe. I suppose it's because the story the museum seems to be telling is a history of foundlings and orphans, as if it were contained in a certain period in time, and yet outside there are still so many children who are being lost and not found, abandoned and not rescued. The mitten brings the story up to date and into the modern world and yet it, too, is outside the museum, although it is perhaps a reminder to not forget as we go on our way. 

Comments

[Frances/Materfamilias]

What sad, sad beauty. Dangerously so, in fact, right at that point where we wonder if the sadness the mitten points to should be made beautiful for all the reasons you set out in your post. Still, perhaps it points, perhaps it reminds, and something surely must make us look at/for the children...
Thank you so much for sharing this. I'm so often grateful for your eyes, out and about, noticing, recording and sharing art and beauty... I rarely say so, but it's very often true.

[Amara Bray]

So much to say about children's rights and how much they needs protection. Even those with "homes" are still oftentimes lost and overlooked. The innocent bystanders in a home with addictions --those alone would fill cities. Makes me want to find more time to volunteer.

[Swissrose]

What a sad, poignant and charming reminder that is, somehow "worthwhile" art, which I can't always say about Tracy Emin's work!

[mrsbris]

We missed it! My daughter is captivated by the story of Hetty Feather (by Jacqueline Wilson) so we went to London in the summer and paid a visit to the Foundling Museum. It does tell a terribly sad history, all the more poignant because of things going on in the world today. But I found it a really calm peaceful place; contemplative. We've just resolved that we have to go back again...not least to ponder the glove we missed but to be in that space again. Thank you for telling us x

[Penny Cross]

My book, "Lost Children" extends the story.

[Andrea]

This reminds me of common lore here in New Zealand in my childhood. If a piece of clothing was found in the street, the finder would carefully place the item on a hedge or fence, or some other nearby place, so the child who lost it (most often it was a child!) or their anxious mother could easily find it.
Was/is this something that also happens overseas?