THE CURATORS is a project following the curatorial team at the Science & Industry Museum in Manchester, as they prepare for the opening of the new Textiles Gallery.

These images show each curator working closely with a specific object they have chosen to champion, guiding it through the processes of research, conservation, restoration, and cataloguing. Much of this work happens out of public view, yet it forms the foundation of how collections are understood, preserved, and shared.

This project is less about finished displays and more about the people responsible for them — the care, patience, and depth of knowledge required to steward objects that carry industrial, social, and human histories. By spending time with the curators alongside the objects they are responsible for, the project aims to showcase the often-invisible labour that shapes how we understand social history.