The Big Smoke

I've already written twice about the Wellcome Collection's Skeletons: London's Buried Bones exhibition (here and here), so you won't be surprised to hear that I was itching to see the exhibition when it finally opened today. And it was well worth the anticipation.

Twenty-six skeletons (from the Museum of London's vast collection) have been laid out in what amount to open coffins, with plaques explaining where the bones have been recovered from and what the skeleton can tell you about the life of the deceased. It's an excellent, sober way of looking at the hardships ordinary Londoners have suffered over the years, with these anonymous bones given real pathos by the sombre presentation and precise descriptions of the afflictions they experience. Some of the younger skeletons are profoundly moving. On the walls are large photographs of the mundane contemporary locations of these lost burial grounds (for more of which, visit here). It's a suitably minimalist treatment of a complex subject and a lesson in how to get the most meaning out of limited but powerful artefacts.

And best of all, it's free.