Mother-daughter art show inspired by 'prophet'

A mother-daughter duo have created their first collaborative art exhibition inspired by another "fascinating" mother-daughter pair who were part of a Christian religious group that believed the Second Coming of Jesus was imminent.

Jacqui and Lauren Saunders-Love are behind Interior Lives, which is on show at the Panacea Museum, Bedford, from 6 February to 19 April.

The Panacea Society was founded in 1919 by Mabel Barltrop, who claimed to be the daughter of God. She lived in a building, now part of the museum, with her daughter Dilys.

Ms Saunders-Love believes Dilys was unable to escape from her life but she wants her own daughter to pursue her own dreams and to "fly and take a risk".

Ms Saunders-Love, a teacher and fine artist who creates 3D paper sculpture, said she became fully aware of Mable Barltrop, who styled herself as "Octavia, the eighth prophet", when Lauren, who is studying for a masters degree in photography, started volunteering at the museum.

She believed there were similarities as they share a living and working space, as did Dilys with her mother at the society's building, which is now the Panacea Museum.

"This poor girl couldn't escape; she was a trained secretary working for the society with much older women and not able to leave, whereas I want Lauren to fly, to take opportunities, to take a risk," she said.

The exhibition features Jacqui's paper sculptures inspired by the museum's buildings and contents, and photographs by Lauren that show her own bedroom and the museum, projected on to cotton.

It aims to show how women's lives have changed over the past century.

• originally called The Community of the Holy Ghost, led by Mabel Barltrop aka Octavia to her followers who saw her as a prophet
• the Panacea Society's followers moved to Bedford to be near Octavia in the 1920s, creating a "campus" of community houses
• had 2,000 members at its height
• believed God was speaking to them through Octavia, and that the world would end with God creating a new age
• believed Joanna Southcott was also a prophet, and that her sealed "Box of Prophesies" needed to be opened by 24 Church of England bishops at a time of national danger
• the box was never opened and remains in a secret location
• last member of the society dies in 2012

The Panacea Museum

"The Panacea Society was gloriously bonkers. I really love the fact it was a female-led group, but at the same time terribly Edwardian," Jacqui said.

It had its own strict rules and regulations and adhered its own "Manners Paper", she added.

"They were women on the cusp of getting the vote, being able to spend their own money, but still had huge restrictions," she said.

"They were creating a space for themselves, which at the time was unusual.

"I've had to fight to create a space to work in - we're trying to do that with art."

Lauren said she wanted to show the "silence" of the rooms which were " female-run spaces operated as dual domestic and workplaces".

"These interiors were once private residences and now they are open for all to see, especially as the members kept themselves separate from much outside of the society," she said.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.