Karren Visser

Museum accessibility in the Dinosaur Gallery

Overlooked by two dinosaur heads on the wall a white woman sits on a beanbag reading a large book. — I have no idea how I made this photograph in the interactive Dinosaur Gallery, one of Liz and my favourite rooms that is particularly popular with visiting families. What I visualised beforehand was Liz blurry and life in Jurassic Oxfordshire on the blue-green walls in sharp detail. Liz was turning the pages of a children’s book as she read out loud very fast. She couldn’t hear me ask her repeatedly to slow down, which made me laugh and go with the flow. I love the exuberant expressions of the dinosaur heads and the cosiness of the space kitted out for children.

Transcript

It feels like a safe non‑threatening place for me. It is incredibly popular with families with young children – they often take up residence for an hour or longer in the gallery lounging about on the blue and red bean bags (one of each colour) and the dinosaur tail cushions that are arranged to jut out into the middle of the room in a curve.

I really like working as a volunteer in this room, tidying it seems like tidying my sitting room at home, a lot of bending down to pick up things and get them back in place!

This photograph is part of a bigger project. Please access this link for the full details.