Vivienne Sometimes: Exhibition launch + talk about Vivien Haigh-Wood Eliot

Drawing on archival photographs of Northumberland House Private Mental Hospital (Green Lanes, Finsbury Park), where Vivien was committed in 1938 and remained until her death on 22 January 1947, the exhibition presents a number of exploratory visualisations of the imagined day-to-day and emotional life of Vivien that reference, but are not limited to, known biographical facts about her.

The exhibition presents a body of visual work, including photographs from the live show 'Vivienne Sometimes' (2022) and animation, aimed at challenging literary-critical characterisations of Vivien as merely an adjunct to Eliot's art and an interpretive frame through which to view it. At the same time, the show seeks to revive the story of Northumberland House (1829-1955), one of London's 'lost' hospitals and part of Haringey and Hackney's shared medical heritage.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Hackney Archives, Dalston Square, London, United Kingdom