The Artisa Foundation is delighted to announce the opening of a new exhibition Superheroes, Orphans & Origins: 125 years in Comics at the Foundling Museum.

This has been curated by Laura House, our first Arisa Fellow at the Museum.  

Laura completed her 9-month fellowship over intense periods of lockdown. The opening of this exhibition, especially in such a difficult context, is a testament to her hard work, agile creative practice, and superb support from Museum staff.

“The Fellowship post focused on the research and development of an exhibition exploring the representation of orphans, foundlings, adoptees and foster children in comics and graphic novels. My involvement in the development and production of this exhibition project provided many opportunities for professional development, skills acquisition and networking both within the Foundling Museum and across the cultural sector more broadly.”
-Laura House, Artisa Fellow, The Foundling Museum

The exhibition has its origins in a site-specific work created for the museum in 2014 by poet, Lemn Sissay – Superman was a Foundling is a poem printed on the walls of the museum’s Study Studio.

It is the first exhibition of its kind to explore the representation of foundlings, orphans, adoptees and foster children in comics, graphic novels and related art around the world, fittingly hosted in the former Foundling Hospital, London’s historic children’s home.

Also on display are three brand-new commissions by comic artists Asia Alfasi, Bex Glendining and Woodrow Phoenix, all examining care identity and experience.

The exhibition runs for five months from 1st April to 28th August 2022. Please click here to book.