The 3 day exhibition was staged in a temporary dome structure in the centre of Birmingham in Centenary Square. This square is the space outside Birmingham’s famous Symphony Hall which stands next to the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The square has easy access to all the renovated Grand Union canal side restaurants, shops and housing and the Cities Museums and Art Galleries.  

We had very good attendance and participation – over 1260 visited the exhibits inside the dome and another 250 – 300 took part in the external dome activities of which up to 150 just did these. Because of the central and popular location the majority of these participants were ‘passerby’ members of the public – just what we had hoped for!   These passersby came from all age groups and represented many of the ethnic and cultural groups that make up Birmingham’s rich and diverse population mix.     

There are some next steps. An evaluation process and report for publication is to be undertaken by a current student in the Dept of American and Canadian Studies Birmingham University. Professor Michele Aaron will supervise this. We will organise a tour of the exhibition in other parts of the West Midlands as we have received several requests to do this from a number of 3rd sector voluntary organisations and we need to continue embedding the work for a more sustainable future.

This exhibition then provided a very useful start and method and route into the territory of articulating and sharing aspects of living, dying and death in very accessible and acceptable ways. We look forward to continuing with the use of the arts to support our ways into this agenda and for exploring the methods for evaluating the immediate and longer term aspects of such health promoting and well being initiatives.

The aim of the ‘Saying the Unsayable’ exhibition was to open a dialogue about living, dying and death amongst the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands. Did it achieve this? In my opinion, yes. Hundreds of people attended the event over the three days it was open. Some responding to the publicity, many drawn to the exhibition whilst passing by.

The range and quality of the photographic images was a constant source of positive comments from the public. Some spent their time viewing just the images, but many were also captivated by the commentary, which went with each photo. These accompanying comments were written by the photographers to explain why they had taken a particular image and what it meant to them in terms of living, dying and death.

From the verbal comments I received from people attending and those recorded in the comments book, it was clear that many were moved by the exhibition and some stated that it had had actually helped them to deal with their own personal situations.

For me, producing an exhibition of photographs taken by a diverse group of local people, with little or no photographic experience, enabled us to produce something that was real and meaningful. This was definitely reflected in the positive feedback we received.
‘Saying the Unsayable’ was just the start, helping to open a dialogue about living, dying and death.

Saying the Unsayable, Seeing the Unseeable
This piece has been written by Dr. Michele Aaron Senior Lecturer American and Canadian Studies Birmingham University    

ONCE  Extraordinary Ordinary Day at Saying the Unsayable – Reflections August 2009
Here the ONCE team reflect on the performance Extraordinary Ordinary Day at the Saying the Unsayable Exhibition