FACES OF ROSSENDALE by Amy Callaghan

This exhibition brings together five historical oil paintings of women from the museum’s collection alongside a contemporary response by local artist Amy Callaghan (Pigs in Mud Studio).

Portraits have long served many purposes: symbols of status, idealised representations of identity, and tools for storytelling. Historically, portraiture was a privilege reserved for those with wealth, social standing, and visibility. As a result, museum collections often reflect narrow histories, for example, the majority of The Whitaker’s portrait collection depict wealthy male industrialists and the women most frequently represented are white and economically secure, shaped by systems of inheritance, marriage, and patronage.

Many others, such as people of colour, working-class, migrants, servants, and labourers were rarely depicted in oil painting, and when they appeared, it was often anonymously or at the margins. Their absence is not accidental, but part of the historical conditions under which these works were created and preserved.

This exhibition invites visitors to look not only at who is present, but also who is missing, and to consider how race, class, gender, and institutions shape cultural memory.

Responding to these historical portraits, Amy Callaghan presents a contemporary mural intervention celebrating the faces of Rossendale today. Inspired by everyday encounters and candid moments, her portraiture captures personality, expression, and the lived character of the local community.

Raised in Shawforth, Callaghan draws on the humour, resilience, and individuality she sees in daily life across the valley. Her work contrasts to the historical paintings in the display as she shifts portraiture away from posed idealism toward raw, spontaneous expressions immortalising the people and stories that define Rossendale now.