Mapping a First World War archive through a contemporary lens

ABSTRACT

This article examines my current research, which is comprised of the making of a gallery installation film, Palimpsest. This film uses contemporary images of the everyday to contemplate events of the First World War as represented in a collection of unique, first-hand, unpublished letters sent home to London by mapmaker Rifleman Barney Griew. Palimpsest has been commissioned by Changing the Landscape, a multimedia arts project developed by Sarah Kogan and supported from public finding by the National Lottery through Arts Council of England and was the first contemporary art exhibition at The National Archive, UK. My writing explores the process and methods of representing the past through contemporary spaces, and their configuration into a continuous biographical narrative denoting the journey taken by Griew. In illustrating the development of the film, I scrutinize the work of the New Topographic Photographers of the 1970s focusing on their representation of landscape, the images of Thomas Ruff and the Russian Formalists in regard to multi-image storytelling. These examples are examined to draw comparisons and evaluate the fostering of critical understanding. I conclude by discussing the importance of contemporary digital technology in shaping our perception of the past.

KEYWORDS:

• First World War
• archive
• digital filmmaking
• Palimpsest

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Sarah Kogan for the commissioning of Palimpsest and her support throughout its making and writing this article. I would also like to acknowledge the support given to me in the writing of this article from Dr Deborah Jermyn, University of Roehampton, London.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Jeremy Bubb is a Filmmaker and Senior Lecturer in Digital Film Production on BA Film, in the Department of Media Culture and Language at Roehampton University, London. He trained at the National Film School in Łódź, Poland, and at the Northern School of Film and Television, UK. He has recently completed a film installation called Palimpsest, for Changing the Landscape.

Notes

1 B.E.F was the British Expeditionary Forces that were at the Western Front throughout the First World War.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Changing the Landscape the Arts Council of England, Grants for the Arts [grant number 22955555].