12 December 2009

Staging the Image: Photography, Documentation, Collaboration, Performance

‘Two entirely contrasting presentations, each wonderful in their own way!’ - Karen, Dovecot visitor

IC:Innovative Craft are delighted to present a special free event in response to the , Image/Craft exhibition, juxtaposing contrasting perspectives on themes of photography, documentation, collaboration and performance.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to attend as places are limited via the contact form or via email (info@innovativecraft.co.uk).

There are two linked parts to the afternoon. In the first part, Jeanette Sendler, Fibre Artist and Costume Performance Designer, and Joanna Kane, Visual Artist and Photographer, will talk about their collaborative work and processes, and show further images exploring the contexts of the powerful photograph shown in the exhibition, which integrates innovative performance, costume design and fibre sculpture, with staged photographic documentation.

In the second part, Diane Atkinson, Author and Social Historian, will narrate the extraordinary story of Elsie Knocker and Mairi Gooden-Chisholm, who operated a first aid post on the Western Front in the First World War, and Jennifer Black and Pauline Lockhart, Actors, will speak Elsie and Mairi’s own words, taken from their letters and diaries. A slide show of images of the two women will play throughout the performance.

At the end, there will be an opportunity for questions and informal discussion with the participants, and Diane will sell and sign copies of her new book, Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front.  The book will be available at a special discounted price for this event only.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Ghost Letters:
The original series of costumes for the Ghost Letters, a collaboration integrating poetic text, costume and performance performance set at Brompton Cemetery for Emerging Properties Performance Company, were created by Jeanette Sendler for a chorus of dead souls. After the production was finished, Joanna Kane continued to work with the set in a variety of different locations, creating a series of strong photographic images. Joanna has a particular interest in the role of photography as documentation, as highlighted by her solo show The Somnabulists at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2008.

Elsie and Mairi Go to War:
Elsie Knocker and Mairi Gooden-Chisholm met through their passion for motor-biking, and when war broke out they joined Dr Hector Munro’s Flying Ambulance Corps and went to Belgium as ambulance drivers. Opening a first-aid post at Pervyse, just yards from the German trenches, they patched up wounded soldiers in difficult and dangerous conditions.  Widely known as the ‘Madonnas’ of Pervyse, they were awarded 17 medals for their courage under fire. It was not all grisly: when they could they partied hard; Elsie married a Belgian baron in 1916 and Mairi had a special friend who was killed in 1917. After being at the most dangerous party in the world for three years, they were almost killed in a gas attack in the spring of 1918 and forced to return to England.