S1: Work

In episode three of the National Museums Liverpool Podcast, Jane Garvey introduces stories on work, each with their own unique link to the museums and Liverpool. Act One: Transitioning on the Force Detective Sergeant Christian Owens was the first person to transition on Merseyside police and as such has turned his experiences into lessons for forces across the country. In this story he details how difficult it can be to be both trans and a police officer. Act Two: Unemployment on Merseyside Mike (Mick) Jones’s huge mural hangs in the People’s Republic Gallery at the Museum of Liverpool. It depicts Liverpudlian’s fight for the right to work in the 20th Century taking in post-WWI marches as well as Liverpool’s lowest ebb, the 1980s. We hear the stories of those who fought for work and those who helped. Act Three: The Sun of Europe Elisabetta Sirani (1638-65) was a 17th Century Baroque artist whose success defied her era in which women were denied academy training. Lead Curator of International Fine Art at the Walker Art Gallery, Kate O’Donoghue, talks us through Sirani’s remarkable but tragically short life.