Jessica Hargreaves video

Jessica Hargreaves, co-organizer of 49.5, talked to her mother, Edie Hargreaves, a psychoanalyst living in the UK, and Ora Dresner, a psychoanalyst and Director of a charity called the Camden Psychotherapy Unit.

“We conceived of the show 49.5 as a place that celebrated the diversity of female power and creativity. We thought of it as somewhere that would be fun as well as intellectually stimulating. We wanted groups to be able to visit and to have the events we scheduled there be party like. We had many hopes, among them that we could even have a female president.

The show was due to open in mid - April 2020. Then came lockdown. We finally opened on Friday the 13th of November. There was no opening celebration because of COVID-19. The maximum amount of people allowed in the gallery at any one time was four. Now the gallery is closed again because Covid numbers are high.

I wanted to use this example to open up a conversation about empowerment loss and moving on. It is not the hugest thing suffered during this pandemic, by any stretch, but it made me feel sad, frustrated and angry.” - Jessica Hargreaves