Whilst in Oxford last week to move in to my new studio at Magdalen Road Studios I had a very bizarre and thoroughly compelling encounter.
I was staying at a friend’s house and whilst there, the proof of “Are There Any People Here?” arrived for me to check. John said, “my friend Gina would love to read that”.
We popped round to her house – she lives in a tower by the river, an amazing place full of arty things. As soon as she picked up the book and spotted that Rivesaltes is officially known as ‘Camp Joffre’ she went over to the mantelpiece and handed me a little figure of General Joffre (French WW1 hero) she’d recently picked up somewhere.
We were all taken aback – how brilliant is that? What a coincidence.
She requested I take some photos of him at the camp.
Due to packing up all our possessions for our move back to the UK, and getting our house ready to rent, time escaped me to visit the camp. On our last day though, I had a brain-wave, I could pick up the children at lunchtime and we could have one final meal out in France, their favourite, the Chinese Wok Bar! It happens to be on the way to the camp.
I decided to photograph the figure next to the original sign ‘Camp Joffre’, I always thought that it was in bad taste that it remained and thankfully it has been removed. I didn’t have much time to visit the other side of the camp, Ilots F and K, so had to take photos next to the army ‘No Entry, Military Terrain’ sign. They have recently created a massive mound of earth surrounding the camp, very steep and does its job well, every time I climbed it I rapidly plummeted to the ground. Helen and the children were in the car watching and worrying a little that I’d soon be stopped by an army patrol. How would I explain my actions?
It reminded me of the very first time I visited the camp with my video camera seven years ago, when a Gendarme actually did question me and sent me on my way. I feel I’ve come back to where I started, a very satisfying last visit… doing something a bit dodgy and completely inexplicable for the sake of art.
