LOOKING at war from another dimension has been the challenge for the inaugural artist-in-residence at The National Museum of the Royal Navy.
And now Helen Snell reveals her striking three dimensional artwork at the end of a three year tenure in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in her A Long Shadow exhibition.
Helen uses laser cutting and digital media to create wall reliefs in paper, large scale steel sculpture and site specific installation, digitally printed fabrics, 3D printed costume and body sculpture.
“I have felt compelled to look behind the sets, props and costumes of the ‘theatre of war’ and to question the sometimes irreconcilable contradictions that shape the call of duty,” she explained.
“The works in this exhibition, and some of the artefacts and images that have inspired them, tell tales of exploration and exploitation, survival and courage, the quest for knowledge in hostile and extreme environments, and the burden of guilt.” A Long Shadow references the legacy of early explorers and how the consequences of their actions have, Helen says, inadvertently spawned our current global conflicts."I hope that the exhibition will prompt visitors to reconsider events in our shared history, and appreciate the sometimes unfathomable inconsistencies, contradictions, complexities and ambiguities in times of peace and war."She will also share her delight in the possibilities of new digital fabrication techniques.
The exhibition runs from November 15 to January 29, 10am to 5pm, and is free with a valid museum ticket.
Visit http://www.nmrn.org.uk/news-events/events/long-shadow for more information.