More than 150 bags, from the practical to the impractical, are going on show at Auckland War Memorial Museum. They include what you would expect - handbags, backpacks and kete - and others you might never have heard of. Carried Away: Bags Unpacked doesn't just show the bags. It tells their stories and talks about the people who made and used them. Lynn Freeman talks to the museum's Applied Arts and Design Curator, Grace Lai and to one of the contributing artists Emily Siddell, and discovers a bag often reveals as much as it conceals. Carried Away: Bags Unpacked opens Thursday at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the book of the same name is published by Allen and Unwin.