SOUTHEND Central Museum plays host to an art exhibition with a difference this week.

A group of second year mature art students from South Essex College have created a set of installations specifically for exhibition at the venue.

The installations, titled Subject To Recall, work with the Edwardian architecture of the museum to highlight cultural issues.

The group of artists includes Antoinette Goossens, Kelly Donovan, Tanya Falco, Leanna Moran, Rosa Banks and Hannah Green.

Antoinette, 45, who lives in Brentwood, says: “We decided we would exhibit in the museum last year and all the work has been ‘site specific’.

“For me, the museum space has been a challenge, because it represents the times in which we live and the decline in culture in the UK and the whole of Europe.

“The people at the museum have been so accommodating to us, and it has been great spending time working in their space.”

Antoinette’s installation runs alongside features in the museum. She explains: “I am interested in architecture and space and the idea behind the installation was to revitalise the museum space.

“I took a white chalk pen and drew on the glass of the show cases around the artefacts inside. It really highlights what’s in the show cases and makes people look at them closely.”

Fellow artist Tanya created a series of glass boxes as a response to the exhibition space.

Tanya says: “The piece is a response to the glass display cabinets in the museum.

“I will recreate a feeling of restriction by encasing four transparent boxes within each other, containing the preciousness of empty space.”

Kelly’s work includes 43 photograms of bottles salvaged from rubbish left by construction workers in Gunners Park, Shoebury. The work will be displayed alongside a Victorian photographer display, in a museum showcase.

She says: “I am aware these bottles are not valuable relics, but at the same time they do evoke thoughts about the past, because of the military history of the site where I found them.

“My personal feelings about the bottles link to thoughts of the unknown soldiers, who lost their lives in battle.”

The work will be on display at the museum, in Victoria Avenue, between tomorrow and Saturday, apart from Good Friday, between 10am and 5pm. For more information, call 01702 434449. or visit www.southendmuseums.co.uk