Before I embarked upon the video commission for National Memory – Local Stories, the First World War felt like a distant, inaccessible dark memory lurking deep within the collective conscience. Overshadowed by the events of the Second World War, the carnage and brutality experienced by those who were engaged in the conflict seem to be so atrocious and inhumane that the thought of delving in to the subject became quite a daunting prospect. As an artist, responding to something so monstrous is challenging, and creating a piece of work that communicates the significance of the past in a way that doesn’t become clichéd or naive is a thought-provoking task. …
By
Victoria Lucas, Commissioned Artist, National Memory – Local Stories: Redbridge Museum Project
22 August 2014
