Four Walls, a Floor and a Ceiling

My first response to the Old Telephone Exchange is the carvings situated in the foyer. The original carvings tell a story of a man making a call on the left hand side, at the centre of the high arches are a group of female faces representing the telephone exchange and on the far right is the man taking the call.

My first thoughts for an installation is a black and white film made in 1948 called 'Sorry, Wrong Number', where a woman is trapped in her bedroom through illness and overhears a plan for a murder on the telephone. She frantically tries the operator to put her through to her husband and an old friend to help her. The film is based around the telephone exchange and the plot unfolds to find it is a plan for her murder.

These are the images of the women who worked at Old Telephone Exchange that I found in Swansea Archive so far.