NANA’S HOUSE
2025
Led by artist Ruth Flowers and co-curated by Zarah Worth, Nana’s House celebrated the position of women in a town named after a man. It wasn’t a gallery. It wasn’t a workshop programme. It wasn’t even an exhibition in the traditional sense. It was something else entirely - a public living room in Peterlee, a space to rest, to remember, to feel welcome, to explore what happens when people are invited into a space that feels like ‘Nana’s House’ and to think about the older women in our lives.
Photo Credit. All images by TJ Mov
‘Nana’s House’, a temporary public art project in Castle Dene Shopping Centre, transformed a disused shop into a welcoming collective space. Carefully crafting a softer perspective on Placemaking, artist Ruth Flowers aimed to create an accessible environment by, with and for this post-industrial town where working-class residents felt and were integral to the art, not interpreters of it. Rooted in everyday life, referencing both archival and shared personal histories, the project fostered community-ownership and curiosity, inviting people to engage, linger, and respond authentically. This stemmed from a clear respect for the community's stories, shared in their own voices.
Part of the Into the Light programme funded by Place Lab Peterlee, Nana’s House explored the impact of creating a space reminiscent of a ‘Nana’s House’. Led by Ruth Flowers and co-curated with Zara Worth, the work initially featured eleven exhibiting artists. This quickly expanded to include twenty artists and creatives from the STRIKE collective, who formed a peer-support network. They contributed not only to art inspired by older female matriarchs but also their skills in marketing, digital documentation, sign-writing, video, and even sourcing nostalgic 80s televisions, further enriching the ‘Nana's House; experience.
Context to the concept
Nana’s House was a direct response to Place Lab’s ambition to test new ways of making, connecting and imagining within left behind town centres - it was directly informed by Peterlee and County Durham. The project foregrounded:
People and Communities
At its core, the project invited everyday people to shape and define the space. It centred matriarchs, carers, parents, artists and those often excluded from traditional arts spaces. No prior knowledge or access was needed, just the willingness to come in and share.
Space and Place
By reactivating a disused retail unit in Peterlee, Nana’s House demonstrated how even short-term creative use can shift perceptions of place. It transformed a quiet corner of the town centre into a living, breathing space for reflection and joy. Ruth Flowers didn’t parachute in - she returned, rooted, and built something with care. The project modelled what happens when artists are trusted to lead with their own voice while holding space for others. The work was artist-led but collectively shaped.
Food, Hospitality and Care
While not a food-based project in a traditional sense, the offer of tea, biscuits and a warm welcome was central. These elements functioned as tools of hospitality - welcoming people into a space that felt familiar and safe. Many of the invigilators held conversations far beyond their remit, with open hearts and warm smiles - an artist isn’t a therapist, but many have softer skills that are greater than the sum of their parts. Imagine talking to someone at the Baltic about your Nana.
Fluxus / Happenings / Participation
Nana’s House wasn’t static. It unfolded. Conversations became content. Participation happened informally. Someone drawing a brooch or sharing a story became part of the work. The exhibition held space for process and participation in equal measure. This project offers a clear model for how Place Lab’s values can be translated into meaningful, artist-led activity in public space. It shows what’s possible when artists are supported to take creative risks, and when care is seen as an artistic strategy in its own right.
Artwork description: ‘Can o' Worms’, 2025 by Ruth Flowers, Clay and knitted acrylic yarn
‘Can o' Worms’ is my attempt to untangle the complex relationships I have with the older women in my life - my mother, aunts, and grandmothers. Six glazed stoneware clay vessels, resembling baked bean cans, represent these women, each marked with a date of birth, creating a visual family timeline. One can bursts open, releasing a chaotic eruption of wool worms.
‘Can o' Worms’ represents conversations I wish I'd had, questions left unasked, and truths often remaining buried within families.
The "can of worms" idiom felt fitting; it's about the potential messiness of delving into our shared history and confronting intergenerational trauma - how experiences and emotions can ripple through generations, shaping who we are. Ultimately, ‘Can o' Worms’ is an invitation to consider our own family dynamics and the power of open communication to heal old wounds. By using such familiar objects, my intention is to show that the ordinary can hold extraordinary significance in our lives and relationships. - Ruth Flowers
As well as artworks and curated pieces, Nana’s House included drop-in sessions and bookable workshops, interactive elements, community conversations, fresh flowers and a simple offer: come in, have a cup of tea and stay as long as you like. On Mother’s Day, the final day, the artists gave away flowers to visitors. Many of the artworks were interactive and the invigilators wore ‘Nana-style’ tabards (that we’re nostalgic for the artists) – adding to the charm and character of the space / happenings.
“We do this work because it creates space for people to say the things they didn’t know they needed to say.
People came into Nana’s House for all kinds of reasons. Some thought it was a charity shop. Others had seen something online. Some were just curious. But nearly all of them stayed longer than they meant to. We made them a cup of tea. They sat down. And then they started to talk.
They told stories about childhood, about their own Nana’s, about what had changed and what hadn’t. They talked about parenting, about loss, about housing, about care work, about what makes a home feel safe.”
We urge you to dive deeper in the project by NMN Creative Producer, Aaron Bowman via his brilliant blog here — or listen below to Aaron reading it out to you below.
The Artists
Nana’s House was conceived and led by artist Ruth Flowers, whose practice is grounded in social engagement and everyday materials. This project marked a return to her roots - both geographically and personally - prompting questions about womanhood and what it means to be a female artist working in a so-called ‘left behind’ place.
In her original proposal, Ruth wrote: “What does it mean to be a woman in a town requested by miners and named after a man, Peter Lee? What does it mean to be a female creative living in a ‘left behind’ area?”
Rooted in Ruth
Nana’s House explored those questions with care and humour. It was an invitation to think about gender, aging, memory and change - without asking people to intellectualise their experiences.
Instead, the space did the work, creating familiarity, encouraging interaction and gently amplifying the voices of older women and matriarchs. Ruth describes her grandmother Nancy - a miner’s daughter and miner’s wife - as a woman of “no-nonsense but nurturing presence,” someone who could “tell you how it was” with a kind of deep-rooted authority. Nana’s House channeled that spirit. It celebrated women like Nancy not as nostalgic symbols, but as powerful figures who hold communities and family memory together.
Working with fellow STRIKE members, Ruth created a space that welcomed people in and invited them to contribute through collage, storytelling, drawing, conversation or just presence. The project was never about spectacle. It was about listening, noticing and making sure people saw themselves reflected in the work.
Quantifying the qulitative
Over two weeks, we welcomed 889 people through the doors - an average of 12 per hour - with many staying for long conversations and more visiting multiple times.
More than 1,000 people engaged across the full project.
Project social media posts reached more than 15,000 people just on Instagram, making this our most engaged organic digital content to date, per project.
The project met people where they were and proved that showing up, being seen and being listened to can be both radical and restorative.
Project partners:
— Commissioned by No More Nowt, created by Ruth Flowers and co-curated with Zara Worth
— All of the local participants, workshop attendees
— Beamish Museum (providing a full Nana’s House living room set)
— The Story in Durham (photographs of women in Peterlee industry)
— Castle Dene Shopping Centre, Peterlee
— Project branding by David Bracknell
