‘Front of House’, an exhibition showcasing artistic talent from current and former front‑of‑house staff at the Natural History Museum, celebrates the creative camaraderie that flourishes beyond (at times) grueling customer-facing work.
The person that checks your ticket as you pass through the doors of your favourite museum, or the gentle cashier that asks if you want a bag, perhaps the courier delivering your midnight takeaway, could be your new inspiration waiting to connect. Often invisible behind the target of a uniform, working artists form the backbone of the service industry in cultural meccas like London. Reduced to an employee number and hidden behind a uniform, thousands of creatives sustain themselves through front-of-house jobs to make ends meet. But don’t be fooled, creative minds are always at work, during lunchtime conversations and commutes across town, ideas get shared, book clubs form and art is discussed, and the capitalistic hellscape of a tourist attraction or a chain restaurant owned by shady men in suits, becomes fervent cultural ground for artists to connect and ideas to merge. And when these ideas come to fruition, you might find that you can create something extraordinary, even out of the horrors of the worst job you’ll ever have. Something like the ‘Front of House’ exhibition, current and ex- Natural History Museum employees Stefania Ilieva, Noor Nematt and Hannah Zbitnew, put together at Hackney Gallery last January.
Underrepresented and often overlooked, many working artists find themselves in roles that make them feel invisible. But as Stefania put it in the Front of House manifesto, “you gotta treat [your front of house role] as an artistic residency, equipped with the best peers you can ask for.”
Creative camaraderie forms in the most unlikely places sometimes, and this ‘Front of House’ exhibition is a testimony to the undying passion and motivation of the talented artists breaking their backs trying to cut through the noise. Working front of house is hard (ask literally anybody) and complaining about the job comes naturally, but as Stefania says, ‘there is always a neighbouring creative soul enduring the same trials, the same humiliation, the same quiet breaks, the same fear of being skint. You are never the only one unravelling.’
Despite the incessant rain and the gelid wind of January, I found myself amidst an impressive crowd at Hackney Gallery, where the exhibition was hosted. People are spilling out into the street and curious East Londoners wander in wanting to know more. Art breeds community, wherever you take it. Stefania, Hannah and Noor showed their colleagues and the public the enduring spirit of working artists in London, and their drive to create this exhibition gave many artists a space to be represented authentically, some for the first time.
Here is what the exhibition curators had to say: “It’s generally such a nice opportunity to work with so many creative people and speaking to them, getting recommendations from them every single day about creative endeavours and talking about the struggle of being an artist, about being a creative in London and just having that camaraderie around it was something that I think really inspired us to put all of this together”, Stefania says.
Huddled outside in the cold, while the gallery filled up, Hannah adds: “When you work, front of house or any service job, you end up spending a lot of time with people who are creative, but don’t have the time or energy or resources to actually do their practice, slowly watching the light leave everyone’s eyes when they say they haven’t made something in so long. I didn’t want that for anybody else. I don’t want that for me.”
Walking around the gallery, a spread of diverse mediums adorned the walls, paintings, photographs, but also a VR experience, receipt-paper poems, a melted metal wall piece and much more. Before me, a true renaissance-style affresco was coming together.
Noor shares: “I was so inspired by all of the creative people that I’ve met from this job and how much we’ve really pulled each other up when we’ve been uninspired, depressed or over it. I think just seeing how many people have work that needs to be seen was a big part of this as well.”
Love and support was palpable in the gallery, with friends and family in town for the show, bouquets of flowers in hand and soon-to-be framed pictures taken wherever you looked. I for one was very proud to come support my talented friend Stefania on this night, that meant an incredible deal to her, but to me as well. I met Stefania on my first day at the Natural History Museum and from this grueling job, a beautiful friendship was born. Almost two years on, as we have both strayed from that job, our friendship has only grown.
One of the artists showcasing their work, Dawnika To, had this to say about what it’s like being a working artist:
“I think working front of house or part-time or a not super creative day job, it’s a given if your family is not very rich or you don’t come from an artistic background. I’m quite surprised working front of house, a lot of us are creatives, and even though I went in thinking that it’s not a creative environment, the crowd is quite creative, and I really like that. I try to still enjoy my work and see everything with a creative plan, and find inspiration at work.
For example, one piece that I did – it’s a sort of abstract close-up of a whale mouth opening with krill going into the whale’s mouth, and I got that inspiration while I was patrolling the blue zone galleries in the Whale Hall [at the Natural History Museum]. Your day job could inspire you creatively. Sometimes, as a creative, your work, depending on what kind of work you do, could be quite isolating; having a front-of-house job sometimes recharges me socially, because I’m forced to go out and talk to people and have human interaction.”
Working a customer-facing job can be demoralising and undervaluing, but inspiration, friendship and creative connection can emerge from the most unlikely places as the curators of this exhibition demonstrated. After all, misery loves company! Truly, nothing will bond you quite like the absurdity you have to face with working with the public. ‘Front of House’ is a testament to the individuality and the creativity that persist, fighting the horrors of the job every day, and a reminder that a job doesn’t define personality, and a uniform cannot take away individuality and creative expression.
As Stefania writes in her manifesto: “This is not a job; this is a field study in humanity. Every complaint, every spilled drink, every ‘Do you work here?’ Becomes a line in the script. FOH is research.”
So, if you’re reading this before your next shift, I hope you’ll gain some inspiration from this exhibition and take comfort in knowing that there is a whole community of working artists that understands the struggles but refuses to succumb to them.
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