JTR Exhibition in Docklands

[George Hutchinson]

^ Please, no Maybrick here!!!

Nats, we all have our own opinions. You said yours. I said mine. In regards to the issue of what was in the photos, it's no big deal. However, if you're going to report these things you may as well be accurate. It wasn't an attack on you personally.

PHILIP

[Christine]

The Maybrick diary was written on actual old paper, and if it was written with Diamine archive ink, that's an ink created from antique recipes and inferior to modern inks in a lot of ways. The fading was apparently faked by diluting the ink. Nonetheless it's hard to tell, which is why some bona fide experts judged it old.

Diamine told researchers to look for a preservative, which is apparently the only concession they made. I guess people were unhappy with mold growing on their pens. I'm told that once you get mold in a pen, you have to have a specialist clean it in an ultrasound machine with special disinfectant or else the mold will keep coming back. On the other hand, antique ink can ruin a pen in several other ways, so most of us pen fanciers shun it.

Nonetheless, I'd love to see the diary. The Victorians cared a lot more about handwriting than we do, and the diary succeeds as a work of fiction and a work of art. (Although I might be giving it too much credit here!)

(I just got a lovely WWII era Waterman pen back from the restorer today. Unlike most old Waterman's pens, it's plain dark plastic rather than their usual gaudy cellophane, which they couldn't get during the war. I think it's more beautiful than its more treasured siblings, and it's going to stay far away from antique ink--authenticity be damned! If I ever fake a diary I'll use a Chinese reproduction pen. )

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Philip,
Well its the very last adjective I would have used to describe the relatively " peaceful,low key " place, where the victims of JtR are remembered in this very public exhibition.
I wasnt expecting to be immediately corrected over exactly what was in the insets----but yes ok----some were simply tiny photos of wreaths of flowers because they didnt have a photo.So?
In their pamphlet the organisers point out their dilemma: alongside their introduction and also on the front page, is a list with the heading "The Eleven Murdered Women" and it gives their name, year of birth and the date of death.
They finish up their precis on the exhibition with this paragraph that, one assumes ,summarises their thinking :"The endless obsession with Jack the Ripper glamourises serial murderers and trivilialises violence against women"
And on the last page of the pamplet it states [ in bold]

"Above all,we
should remember
the tragic lives of the
murdered women".

So the exhibition organisers seem to be fairly unequivocal in their disapproval!
But I dont fully agree with them over this because in the process of trying to work out the mystery of who JtR was,some of us get drawn into the backdrop to the case---and the fascinating place that was Whitechapel in the 1880"s and some of our own history.
The" hunt for Jack the Ripper"can therefore be a sort of vehicle into London life in 1888, its politics, social conditions,and the history of people of the East End themselves - and it doesnt nmeed to involve trivialising or forgetting about the monstrous crimes of murder and mutilation that the Ripper perpetrated.


Caz,
I really did think that.It certainly made me think it might well be an"old" hoax-----rather than a recent one!


Best

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Nats

There are NOT 11 representations of victims in that side room. If they don't have a photo, they used a small sepia shot of a posey of flowers.

I found the whiteness mawkish, inaccurate (the previously mentioned 'purity' tag) and even indicative of the clinicism of the mortuary (modern, not period).

PHILIP

[caz]

Hi Nats,

You are in excellent company actually, because your visual impressions of that document match those of the curator (in 1992) of 19th century manuscripts at the British Museum and the owner (same year) of Jarndyce, the antiquarian bookshop opposite the museum. You can't get much more qualified than that. The idea of anyone hiding the thing away from public view, terrified of comparisons with all the authentic LVP docs on display, can at least be put to rest.

Love,

Caz
X

[Natalie Severn]

I went to the JtR Exhibition today,just before going into a discussion on the Jewish East End led by Jerry White,Professor Bill Fishman,Rachel Lichtenstein and Iain Sinclair.It was also good to see John, Jackie and co there from the WS!
Of the exhibition itself much has already been written so just a few personal responses.I liked some of the mechanisms that drew you in,when you first enter the darkened rooms- the walls flickering with menacing images on death-shadowed East End streets ,then in the next room, black and white life size photographic stills so that your interest shifts from dream like theatre to an array of beleaguered East Enders either grinning goodhumouredly for the camera or too indifferent to even turn and look its way.

I was very interested to see the Maybrick Diary for the first time though...age wise it looked surprisingly authentic to me! The ink looks much as I would expect-a little bit faded,the paper slightly yellowing...but what do I know!There were in fact lots of interesting artefacts but others here have already written about them.
There has been much said already on the representation of the victims in the exhibition .However I found that despite there not being much comment on their lives,their actual images were presented,in my view,very thoughtfully and respectfully. For example most of the exhibition is set in a dark space-in every sense-an atmosphere of foreboding permeates each room,whether it be from blown up, alarmist, press headlines , police or pathology reports,the "Dear Boss " letters or a Victorian mortuary table but not so the small white side room where the victims photographs are to be found.
The all white space -its more of a small side room, contains the images of the 11 murdered and mutilated victims, 11 miniature insets lit from within, no more than 8cms x 4cms in size.
Such an otherwise empty space, suggests quiet contemplation and its very silence and lack of eulogy, succeeds in allowing feelings that each person in the image is of equal value and that each of them is priceless.

[Monty]

OK

Monty

[George Hutchinson]

Shut up, Bell, you freak.

PHILIP

[Monty]

Loadsa love going down on this thread now.

Good to see.



Monty

[caz]

That's great - thanks Rob!

Love,

Caz
X

[Rob Clack]

Hi Caz,

You have more faith in my memory then I have but I'll give it a good go and dredge the murky depths of my subconscious.

Love

Rob XX

[caz]

I saw the alleged Maybrick diary about 10 years back.

Hi Rob,

Just to put people's minds at rest, the exhibit makes it clear that the allegation comes from within the text. There is no suggestion that the diary is being displayed as Maybrick's own work.

I will be very interested to hear from you whether you think the appearance of the writing has changed in any way (faded, changed colour, for instance) since you last saw it. By rights, if the writing really was 'fresh' back in the early 1990s, when it was alleged by some to look 'too fresh' to date back more than a year or two, it should be looking distinctly unfresh now that sixteen years have passed. If there is no discernible difference between then and now, the old 'too fresh' allegation may need to be reconsidered.

Apologies to all for the brief diversion.

As you were, ladies and gents. I will say no more about it (unless I see any canards ).

Love,

Caz
X

[Rob Clack]

Rob - just keep an eye out for the staff. They wear blue shirts with the exhibition logo on the back. If there's none about, you'll be fine. As Stephen says, turn the flash off. Lower the exposure meter as well, otherwise they'll end up blurred. Easier to brighten them on your PC with your photo software than to upload a load of photos you can't use because the exhibition's so dark. I'm obviously saying this so you do it before you go in. I'd also recommend - if you have one - taking a SMALL camera. Your usual one might be asking for trouble. At least with mine I could have it in my jacket pocket and bring it out as and when I needed it.

PHILIP

Cheers Philip. I've got a half decent camera on my mobile.

Rob,
PS Announcing your intentions on a public website, thats no a bit, u know, doh!

Saying it like that makes the lens cap jibe, justifiable

Rob

[Natalie Severn]

Yes there is, Rob, but if you can figure out how to disable the flash on your camera you'll be able to get away with it. The exhibition is quite wonderful, by the way, dripping with Ripperological riches like the actual 'Maybrick Diary' and Abberline's press cutting book and loads of actual contemporary documents and artifacts, and great slide shows of old East End photos. You're right to be looking forward to this. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.

Stephen,
I must admit I am still very disappointed when I hear about the absence of any "voice" having been given to the victims of Jack the Ripper in an exhibition that calls itself Jack the Ripper and The East End..It suggests their actual lives are still seen as of little consequence as they were in life,and it makes me feel a bit sickened.Its so sad that they are so easily ignored and rowed out still.
Thankfully Neal continues to be someone prepared to "shout" for them....such a pity that his lovely book is not available for sale!
Still,I am otherwise looking forward to it very much.

[Monty]

Rob,

You need a lookout mate. I was going to offer but you called me a...

Monty

PS Announcing your intentions on a public website, thats no a bit, u know, doh!