The Archives and Cornish Studies Service was delighted last week to launch a new exhibition of original art by local artist and illustrator Sue Lewington.

‘Real Lives: History, Memory, Imagination’ will be hosted by the Cornish Studies Library in Redruth until Friday, September 30. The exhibition features a range of paintings, books, collages, illustrations and much more, inspired by Cornwall’s archive collections.

The exhibition is a result of an artist in residence project where Sue spent time at both the Cornwall Record Office and the Cornish Studies Library gathering inspiration from both the buildings and collections. The resulting works represent a creative imagining of the spaces, and a range of pieces which are inspired by maps, photographs, school log books, diaries, letters, and the stories behind them. Sue has also captured the storage areas – spilling over with archive treasures - on both sites before their move to Kresen Kernow, Cornwall’s new archive centre, in 2018.