Would you want the inside of your fridge to be exhibited to the outside world? Even Hello! magazine doesn’t go that far, but this was precisely the challenge facing 12 Southampton women whose everyday lives were photographed as part of the Southampton Women’s Survey. The results-including sweating vegetables, half-eaten cakes, and even Ratty the rat-now form part of a new photographic exhibition at Southampton’s City Art Gallery.

The photographs are part of a unique collaboration between medical research and art; they are also a memorable celebration of the lives of women in the City. Southampton’s Women, photographed by Magda Segal, focuses on some of the women who are participating in the Southampton Women’s Survey. The Survey is one of the largest and most significant focused research surveys ever to be undertaken. Based at the University, it began in 1998 and involves all women in Southampton aged between 20 and 34 (about 20,000 women). The aim of the survey is to provide the first real information on the ways in which a mother’s size, health and diet before and during pregnancy affects her baby’s size and development in the womb, and its health in later life.

In parallel with the Survey, leading photographer Magda Segal was commissioned to photograph the daily lives of some of the women taking part. These photographs provide a visual moving documentation of the real lives of Southampton’s women today-they are funny, moving, and extremely compelling.

The exhibition runs at Southampton City Art Gallery until 4 June; opening times are Tuesday-Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, Sunday 1 pm to 4 pm.