Echoes Across The Century

Alison Truphet

Description

"Echoes Across The Century" is a commemorative WW1 project, conceived and delivered by Jane Churchill and Alison Truphet, involving London students and Livery Companies which culminated in an immersive exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery in 2017.

Sujets

• Children's

Informations

• Publié par: Brown Dog Books
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785452376
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

ECHOES
ACROSS
THE
CENTURY
Conceived and created by Jane Churchill and Alison Truphet
Generously funded by
National Lottery players through the Heritage Lottery Fund
and delivered for
Livery Schools Link
by
Alison Truphet and Jane Churchill
ECHOES
ACROSS THE CENTURY
Written by Alison Truphet and Jane Churchill
Graphic design by Premm
Photographs by David Hodgkinson
www.sweetmoon.com
Edited by Kay Leitch
Designed by Tim Jollands
The right of Alison Truphet and Jane Churchill to be
identified as the author of this work has been asserted
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
written permission of the copyright holder.
Published under licence by Brown Dog Books and
The Self-Publishing Partnership, 7 Green Park
Station, Bath BA1 1JB
www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk
First published in 2017
ISBN print 978-1-78545-236-9
ISBN e-book 978-1-78545-237-6
Printed and bound in the UK
Echoes Across the Century
is dedicated to the memory of William Goss
Hicks and Jessie Ellman and all the men and women who fought,
worked, lived and died during World War One.
“We will remember them.”
Foreword
7
1. Degrees of Separation
9
2. Our Journey through
Echoes
Across the Century
17
3. Livery Companies
25
4. Schools
30
5. Boots
36
6. Spectacles
39
7. Saddles
46
8. Ration Tins
51
9. Field Stoves
57
10. Postcards
61
11. Playing Cards
66
12. Posters
70
13. Ambulances
74
14. Hospital Ships
79
15. Aircraft
83
16. Peace Memorials
87
17.
Echoes
at Guildhall Art Gallery
93
Acknowledgements
107
Biographies
111
Detail from
Moth Case: Arras 1917
by Jane Churchill
CONTENTS
foreword
This book is the enduring legacy of a
journey undertaken by Jane Churchill and
Alison Truphet to create a project and
final exhibition that would bring to life the
heritage of those who lived through the First
World War. Conceived as a commemoration,
the project and the exhibition set out to
inspire and engage the widest possible
audience, just as World War One is passing
out of living memory.
The years 1914 to 1918 saw the most
devastating war the world had ever known.
Millions of men were killed across the globe,
leaving behind a multitude of grief-stricken
families, friends and loved ones. In Britain,
the war affected the whole of society,
and had far-reaching consequences for all
Trainees at Blandford Camp
from
Jane Churchill’s collection
8 ECHOES ACROSS THE CENTURY
aspects of daily life.
Echoes Across the Century
explored the impact of the First World War
on workers behind the scenes, those involved
in the supply chain for the Western Front,
the soldiers themselves, and those they left
behind.
The personal stories of people separated
by the war were threaded throughout the
project and the exhibition at Guildhall
Art Gallery. The installations invited
immersion in imaginary worlds and real-life
situations, to better understand a period of
unprecedented turmoil.
This exhibition, displayed during the
centenary of WW1, provided a space for
remembrance and for reflection on the
ephemerality of life and the permanence
of love.
Father and son
from Jane Churchill’s
collection
1.
DEGREES
OF
SEPARATION

1. DEGREES OF SEPARATION 11
WG Hicks’ Dead Man’s
Penny
Our Inspiration
DEGREES OF SEPARATION
by Jane Churchill
I am a maker of imaginary worlds.
Echoes
Across the Century
brought together strands
of my work in theatre set design, visual art
installation, art making and curating.
When I was five I would watch my
father reverentially polish this brass medal,
sometimes known as a Dead Man’s Penny,
given to the families of those who had lost a
son in WW1. It was bigger than my child-
sized hand and I knew then it weighed more
than just its weight in brass.
On it is written a name: William Goss
Hicks.
I held this object and wondered how it
could signify a man’s life and who he was.
Growing up, I had the figure of a WW1
soldier forever accompanying me. I collected
every photo of soldiers I found in junk
Second Lieutenant
William Goss Hicks
shops, wondering what they had seen and
experienced. I felt connected to each photo
as if it was my own past life I was exploring
or that I was the custodian of other people’s
memories.
12 ECHOES ACROSS THE CENTURY
In July 1917, Lieutenant W.G. Hicks
was killed in France. He left behind life as a
head teacher in Kent and his fiancée, Jessie
Ellman, to whom he never returned. From a
few surviving objects, I created an immersive
installation almost 100 years after his death,
uncovering the traces of his memory from
Jessie’s perspective and giving glimpses of
their story through artworks, objects and
artefacts.
Jessie Ellman’s
Collection
of Years 1916: Moth Case
“Lachrymatoria”: Jessie Ellman’s
Collection of Tears
1. DEGREES OF SEPARATION 13
I realised my lifelong emotional
connection with the soldiers of the First
World War, the loss of them and the women
they left behind, had found its way out of my
imagination and into my art.
Degrees of Separation
took the audience on a
journey exploring memory, loss, connection
and separation through WW1. Part museum
collection, part archive of dreams, this work
illuminated heritage and was an invitation
to step into a world between the real and
the imagined and ask what can be uncovered
about a man’s life and love from just a few
surviving objects.
Trench Map: section 11
Lens
Detail from
Collection of Dreams
, in which Jessie
dreams of Will’s return
14 ECHOES ACROSS THE CENTURY
This work became
both the inspirational
starting point and
the central artwork
behind our project
Echoes Across the Century
and the first part of
the final exhibition at
Guildhall Art Gallery.
Fallen
by Jane Churchill
Relic: Equus
Degrees of Separation
in
Guildhall Art Gallery
1. DEGREES OF SEPARATION 15
Detail from
Unnatural
Histories
: Arras, all
that remains
Fallen Angel
by Jane Churchill
Detail from
Collection
of Dreams
, in the ruins
16 ECHOES ACROSS THE CENTURY
Warrior
by Jane Churchill
RIGHT
Mrs Jewell:
Egg Collection 1913
FAR RIGHT
Detail from
Collection of Dreams
, in
which Jessie dreams of
Will’s return
“There’s a long, long trail a-winding”
Detail from
Collection of Dreams
2.
our
journey
through
echoes
across
the century
18 ECHOES ACROSS THE CENTURY
We first discussed this project in 2011 after
Jane’s exhibition, Degrees of Separation , was first
shown.
Taking the trades and industries behind
the scenes of WW1 as our central theme,
we conceived a heritage art project engaging
students with the human impact of the war
through the supply chain. As producer, Alison
introduced the concept to Livery Schools
Link and provided the perfect vehicle,
bringing together both Livery Companies
and schools she had worked with.
The artwork Jane produced with students
in an initial project was exhibited at Barber-
Surgeons’ Hall in March 2015, enthusing a
further 16 Livery Companies and 13 schools
to take part in a larger project. Everyone who
saw it understood that viewing Jane’s work
was an immersive experience illuminating
heritage and touching people’s emotions. Our
Skilled tradesmen
needed to build aircraft
[RAF Museum, London]
“
I was struck by the haunting depth of connection that
the installation captured, the essence of all the stories
of love and loss from WW1. I was deeply moved by the
installation and suggested a collaboration focusing on
WW1 to illuminate the importance of its legacy, which
still resonates today.
”
–
ALISON
echoes across
the century