Film by Felicity Shillingford, 2010.

In 2010, young people across the South West visited a vast and diverse collection of objects relating to sexuality from across time and place, put together by Sir Henry Wellcome. They reflected on what they have seen and how it relates to their modern concerns about sex and sexuality.

In a vast storage facility used by many of London’s biggest museums – a dark and brooding space filled floor to ceiling with thousands of weird and wonderful things that most people will never see – are found rooms of chastity belts, contraception methods, Victorian vibrators, historical erotica and ancient fertility dolls.

Photo: Fliss Shillingford

“The objects were absolutely intriguing. They were objects not just with historical meaning and value but objects that I was able to relate to… triggering a hundred questions and setting a scene in my head.”  – Young Participant.

In this film two of our project collaborators, Julian Vayne and Rachel Vowles show us around the extraordinary collection of Wellcome’s sexual artefacts from around the world.

With Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Science Museum