Bye Bye Beta!

It’s official - we said goodbye to beta and launched the What I See Project website with a spectacular event at the Science Museum. Hosted on the first floor, overlooking the main exhibition spaces, we were joined by special guest speakers – Eileen Cooper and Terri Apter – and 4,000 Science Museum go-ers, for what turned out to be a night to remember. The What I See phone boxes were back, a live twitter based image feed, a written action based wall response space and thanks to the brains from Jiggling with Atoms, an installation allowing you to explore the connection between perceptions and emotions through colour.

The evening kicked off with an introduction from the pioneer of the project herself, Edwina Dunn, as she introduced a selection of women’s stories and her motivation and interests, “The project is driven by a fascination with women’s stories, their lives and how their experiences shape who they are and how they see the world”.

Next up, Terri Apter talked about two different types of model and how we judge ourselves harshly against them. The celebrity model presents an ideal – of beauty, physique and sexuality – that triggers anxiety when we ourselves look in the mirror and are unable to appreciate what we see. The other, the role model, may inspire and inform. However, these role models can also damage as we model ourselves upon them, which can interfere with our priorities and emotions. Terri pointed out that there is no template for a successful woman and the beauty of What I See is its emphasis not on how we are seen, but what we ourselves see.

Following this, Eileen Cooper offered three striking thoughts. The first, that, having always used mirror images in her painting, she sees the mirror symbolically representing not vanity, but self-knowledge. Nowadays, her self-portraits are more of a psychological representation and a long way from the self-portraits she painted as a young artist whilst observing her reflection in the mirror. Finally, she told us of her initial reluctance to be part of the project , but how, to her surprise, she found the whole process of contributing to the project moving and how she hopes the project goes on to capture other people’s imagination.

Eileen and Terri also took centre stage as the first two subjects of the What I See series of short films, showcasing the everyday lives of extraordinary women. With this series, we aim to take women who have excelled in all fields and, by revealing their stories, present a tapestry of role models from all walks of life. Look out for Terri’s video on the website at the beginning of March and Eileen’s in April. Each month thereafter, we will show another inspirational woman’s story.

Thanks to all the wonderful and inspiring women and men who came along. All in all, the evening was a huge success and we continue to receive great feedback. Take a look at some images from the Launch.