I came across this fascinating piece of needlework today at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, part of the Norfolk Museums, while out researching something unrelated. What a find! It's a tiny part of an immensely long embroidered rant that I can only hope acted as a sort of proto art therapy for its poor creator. Her name was Lorina Bulwer and you can read her story here and see more of Lorina's grievances - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorina_Bulwer
I wondered: if sent to the workhouse, would it be better to be mad or sane?
Then I bought a fridge magnet in the Gressenhall shop on the way out, noting the irony that Lorina would never have known what a commercial use licence was. She died well over 70 years ago so not even her descendants come in for anything. Poor Lorina. Maybe I'll offer it up as a psychology book cover one day.
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