I have long been annoyed at the growing habit of museums displaying ship models divorced from their original context. I am particularly troubled by the tendency to remove ship models from their original cases, which museum designers despise, and museum administrators seem to find annoying. In many instances the case is an integral part of the overall object, the ornate wood and glass housing enhancing the stature of the model within and allowing the inclusion of a descriptive and decorative label with the ship’s name and general particulars. A standalone case also allows close inspection in the round. A ship model in its case reflects its use in trade fairs and board rooms as a marketing tool or in museums as an object of education and admiration. A fine example is the model of Mona’s Isle in the McLean Museum in Greenock. A particular bugbear is when ships models are removed from their cases and suspended at jaunty angles in a way that suggests that they are flying.
On a recent visit to the Royal Academy, however, I was made to eat my words. Its exhibition Entangled Pasts 1768–Now: Art, Colonialism and Change includes the stunning installation ‘Armada’ by Hew Locke consisting of 45 model cargo ships, fishing boats, caravels and galleons hanging at eye level in the centre of the gallery. Locke is a Scottish/Guyanan artist who grew up among boats on the rivers and waterways of Guyana and has been making boats since 1987. The first was a boat to take the souls of dead slaves back to Africa and every year he has added to his collection. The boats in Armada are a combination of scratch-built models, purchases and some collected as found objects over a long period of time. Each is heavily customized to give a distressed and weathered appearance, and all are adorned with coins, charms and tokens, including woven plastic ‘refugee bags’. Locke’s inspiration stems from seeing votive ship models in churches and the display in the church-like gallery has a deeply spiritual quality. The work is a vivid and moving commentary on colonialism, migration and identity. Locke describes it as a collection of histories, past and present, with the boats being the ghosts of the past floating alongside the realities of the present.
Locke has said that if was not an artist he would be a historian. Of course, all the great ship modellers like Harold Underhill and Donald McNarry also needed to be meticulous historians to ensure the accuracy of their creations. What I admire about Locke is that he is equally meticulous in his approach but the details and the histories he presents tell an entirely different and challenging story.