Imperial War Museum North

This work was produce as part of an art workshop, dealing with themes of displacement due conflict. I was a contributor to the Moving Minds exhibition and structured the workshop.

Cover.

The piece itself consisted of eight slides. Two sets of photographs where produced to make up the body of the projection. The first contained models in period dress where produce and the placed in scenes of conflicts from the last century. Each image was constructed from two or more photographs. The first stage of process was finding the correct costumes. The costumes warn in the images are made up from a model’s father’s nation service uniforms, a second hand trench coat (my own clothing) and hand made rifle built from everything for a copper pipe to the nick of cocoa cola bottle. The next stage involves changing the tone of the image. After this, the color was tuned to a duotone then burled to convey to the viewer that the image is an authentic image taken from one the wars of the last century. The final stage is to place the image out a background. Each background used where taken from my own collection of photographs shot over the last five years. Other images used where screen captured from DVD videos. (The tanks used in the background for image are from “Evita”).

Different stages

In the second set the models striped from waist up with text placed on to their chest that confesses there true feelings as a way showing the external to the internal self.( At the time a mistaken was made, I only shot the models with set of text. The rest of the text was added in later on Photoshop.)


I wanted to show what it feels like in the hearts of the men who want to war. The message that I wanted to give the viewer is that war not only outwardly destructive but also internally damaging to those involved. The final project was made up of eight slides, with many slides left out as I felt any more the four of each would reduce the impact of images.

Each set then will be made into slides and projected on to the Silos of the war museum. The images would in turn from the external to the internal self at timed intervals. This would appear as an image of a solider in mists of war for thirty seconds followed by thirty seconds of darkness just long enough for the viewer to be on the cusp of walking away and for five brief seconds an image of the photographic protagonist will return for five seconds, allowing the viewer to see what the felt inside, then the cycle would begin again after a thirty second interval.
The final eight

Unused images.