Two consecutive days off has given me the chance to get stuck into some ideas for additional work in the Colonize exhibition.
I want the work to sit comfortably with the large installation in the exhibition, so I’ve been experimenting with paper and maps to make smaller works.
Did I explain what the large installation was of? So much is happening in my life at the moment that I often jump from one scenario to another, not really thinking about whether it all makes sense to anyone but myself!
Briefly…. There are several large rape seed fields close to where I live and as you drive down the main road leading to my house, you can see the vast expanse of yellow ahead in the summer months. It really is lovely, but I’ve never thought of it as anything more than a field of yellow flowers.
One day, I took a wrong turning as I went to pick up a parcel from the industrial estate in the area, and came across a memorial. It was for 24 American servicemen that had lost their lives in 1944 as their Liberator aircraft virtually fell from the sky in the nearby fields.
Even after all of this time, engine parts still lie in the fields, ploughed around by the current owner.
I’m so saddened by what had happened, particularly as I hadn’t known about it – despite having lived in the area for so long.
Without making it sound so trivial, my installation is a memorial, made up of a ‘field’ of yellow flowers. I’m hoping to show all sorts of notes and documentation with the work so that people can understand that although the aircraft is a long way from ‘home’ , it is still treated with the upmost respect.
