Aunty Nancy and Nana’s House: Unsung stories of the women who shape our lives

For International Women’s Day, our Director, Julia, reflects on the unsung stories of the women who who shape our lives and communities - including her Great Aunty Nancy.

Since returning to the North East, I have been thinking a lot about my Aunty Nancy. A family heroine, Aunty Nancy was the first female manager of Woolworths (a once high street staple), managing the store in Peterlee. She never married, and - for her generation - she made the bold decision to focus on her career.

As a child, I was mostly enchanted by her tales of holidays abroad where she blew most of her hard-earned cash – this may have inspired later decisions to study and work overseas.

But since coming back to the region, I find myself wondering how on earth Aunty Nancy travelled from South Shields to Peterlee on public transport for a 7.30am start every day! I wonder what she would have made of Peterlee town centre and the role of women shaping it and towns like it across the UK today.

Singing the unsung stories of everyday female heroines has been a recurrent theme in the artwork Into the Light has celebrated over the past 18 months.

(Great) Aunty Nancy (far left), somewhere 'abroad' in the 1960s. Photographer unknown.

Strike Collective, a women+ art collective based in County Durham, brought Castle Dene shopping centre in Peterlee alive last year with Nana’s House – a group exhibition and community art space celebrating the voices of the matriarchs that shaped our homes and inspired us. It was led by Ruth Flowers and co-curated by Zara Worth – two brilliant County Durham women.

This creativity re-presented as art highlights the skill, beauty, wit and innovation of proggy mats, knits, clothing and other creations, born out of making do, but actually making better.

Nana’s House, Place Lab Peterlee - pop-up at Castle Dene shopping centre

Beth J Ross’s digital art commission BINGO rooted out untold stories from the bingo halls of County Durham – spaces where generations of women gathered not only for entertainment, but for friendship, solidarity and shared experience.

Others, like Meg McWilliam’s Champagne Dreams on a Lambrini Budget, reclaim and champion the voice of growing up here.

Seeing work like this made me reflect on why so many of the women in my own family remained unsung. As I moved into spaces they had never felt welcome in, I realised how easily stories like theirs could be left behind – as though where we came from somehow excluded us from being here. Work like Meg’s reminds me that this is changing, and that we are increasingly empowered to tell our own stories.

Into the Light is driven by a collaboration across County Durham to turbo-charge regeneration through creativity. That includes a powerhouse of inspirational women, including the wonderful Jill Cole, who retires this month after building an extraordinary legacy of creativity and opportunity across Weardale and Teesdale with Northern Heartlands.

Here at Into the Light HQ, I’m joined by three more inspirational women Elinor, Alison and Anna – all committed to creativity in our region.

At TIN Arts, dancers are taking young people on a remarkable journey through space and time. At Ensemble ’84, new voices are emerging from communities whose stories have too often gone unheard. We’re looking forward to welcoming Hollie Galpin-Mitchell, our new team member to Beamish Museum’s Skills Hub (under the great leadership of Rhiannon Hiles) next week.

With our wider Into the Light community, many of the nearly 1,000 artists we have supported are women+, contributing to a vibrant and diverse creative landscape across County Durham.

So why do we still need a day like International Women’s Day? Because the picture changes as you get nearer the top. While women dominate the UK cultural workforce, overall, we lead only 31% of Artistic Director positions and control a mere 21% of the total sector funding.

Despite making up 73% of art and design graduates, women account for only 1% of the National Gallery’s permanent collection.

For me, this is not only about breaking down the barriers women still face. It is also about reclaiming stories that were never told in the first place. Thinking back to the inspirational women in my family, and the women whom artists in County Durham have brought to life over the past year – I am reminded how powerful it can be when we reclaim those stories and tell them for ourselves, our communities, and for future generations.

This is just one of the reasons why art is the fairy dust of change – it makes the magic happen, and we have so much fun on the way.

To find out more about Into the Light and the work we’re doing across County Durham, take a look around our website and social media channels.