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Visit to Tyneham Village 1st January 2018

In order to support both my creative practice and my research (with particular reference to my research report) I decided to take a trip to a recently abandoned village. For me this was a great opportunity to experiment with photography a little; I enjoy photography and consider it to be an important part of my creative practice, as it often feeds my paintings. Furthermore, as I am writing a section of my dissertation on ‘the modern ruin’, it made complete sense to be able to support this text with a primary source of inspiration.

History

Tyneham is a ghost village in south Dorset, England, near Lulworth on the Isle of Purbeck. It remains a civil parish, and is one of a handful of parishes in England with a population of zero.

The village and 7,500 acres (30 km2) of surrounding heathland and chalk downland around the Purbeck Hills, were requisitioned just before Christmas 1943 by the then War Office (now MoD) for use as firing ranges for training troops. 225 people were displaced, the last person leaving a notice on the church door:

Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly.

This measure was supposed to be temporary for the duration of World War II, but in 1948 the Army placed a compulsory purchase order on the land and it has remained in use for military training ever since. Though littered with scrap used as targets, and subject to regular shelling, the land has become a haven for wildlife as it has been free from farming and development. In 1975, after complaints from tourists and locals, the Ministry of Defence began opening the village and footpaths across the ranges at weekends and throughout August. Many of the village buildings have fallen into disrepair or have been damaged by shelling and in 1967 the then Ministry of Works pulled down the Elizabethan manor house, though the church remains intact, and has a stained-glass window by Martin Travers. The church and school house have since been preserved as museums.

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‘Essays at Curiosity, or Eight Ways of Looking’ Thematic Critique 29th November 2017

Brian Dillon

‘We are enriched only by frequenting disciplines remote from our own.’

E.M Cioran, The Trouble with Being Born, 1973

The artist in her studio, the writer at his desk – unsure what is going to fill the blank space.

The history of thinking about curiosity tells us that it has never been less than ambiguous and paradoxical, subject to historical drifts and sudden judgements for and against.

There is both our fundamental, driving taste for novelty and knowing, and the fact that ‘curiosity blends itself more or less with all our passions.’

Religious and moral railing against curiosity – categorised as a form of lust or greed.

Philosophy begins in wonder – In Aristotelian thought, and thus for the Christian scholasticism that followed in the Middle Ages, wonder and curiosity were quite remote from one another.

The first (wonder) involved a necessary realisation of one’s own ignorance, the second was a morally ambiguous urge to know what none of one’s business was in fact.

Greed – the curious person, whether philosopher, scientist, eavesdropper, spy or gossip, was seized by an addiction that could not finally be assuaged.

‘It is one of the great paradoxes of curiosity in all eras – we shuttle between attention and distraction, time and again, in the throes of the same passion for novelty and knowledge.’

If curiosity names a type of desire – for the new and diverting, even for the shocking or repulsive – it also denotes something other than the adventure of discovery; rather, if anything a species of reticence.

Curiosity comes to mean precision or exactitude, a sedulous concentration.

The special type of oddity that unites the contents of the Wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities, so exactly recognisable.

‘A paradise and cabinet of rarities, and that of the best collection, especially medals, books, plants and natural things.’

The technology exists, the desire for it is there, and there is no limit to the things that can be known. All that stands in the way of this newly curious era is a protectionism regarding knowledge, a concern that ‘bad’ information will contaminate the ‘good’.

When the history of the conflicted faculty and emotion that is curiosity tells us it never ceases to tremble between concentration and distraction, between lucidity and dream.

Dillon, Brian (2014) Essays at Curiosity, or Eight Ways of Looking, Pages 14-23 Hayward Publishing

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Grayson Perry, The Life of Julie Cope, 2015

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Grayson Perry, The Life of Julie Cope, 2015

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Grayson Perry, The Life of Julie Cope, 2015

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Grayson Perry Firstsite 25th November 2017

Turner Prize Winner Grayson Perry is one of the best known contemporary artists working in Britain today. Born in 1960 in Chelmsford, Essex, he uses traditional art forms including ceramics, bronze, tapestry and printmaking to examine modern society. Perry tackles universal subjects from class and politics to sex and religion, often referencing his own childhood and experiences of life as a transvestite. His open, inquisitive and witty approach to these topics has been chronicled in a number of BAFTA award winning television series.

The Life of Julie Cope is a unique presentation consisting of tapestries, woodcuts, drawings, ceramics and tiles. It tells the story of Julie Cope - a fictional Essex woman created by Perry - and ‘A House for Essex’ (2015), the building designed by Perry in collaboration with FAT Architecture, and commissioned by Living Architecture. An artwork in itself, the House serves as a secular chapel to the memory of Julie, and is the setting for a number of the artworks included in this exhibition.

Perry describes Julie’s tale as representing ‘the trials, tribulations, celebrations and mistakes of an average life.’ It is told through a series of intricate woodcuts and tapestries, accompanied by a traditional folklore ballad that is written and read by Perry. The tapestry ‘A Perfect Match’ (2015) depicts the beginning of Julie’s life, from her birth on Canvey Island during the great flood of 1953, to her ultimately doomed relationship with her first husband Dave. After growing up among the modernist architecture of Basildon, the couple moved to South Woodham Ferres in Chelmsford where their two children Elaine and Daniel are born.

Following the discovery of Dave’s affair with a schoolteacher named Pam, Julie travels further north to Maldon and takes control of her own life. ‘In Its Familiarity, Golden’ (2015) portrays the profound happiness she finds with her second husband Rob who she meets while attending Essex University to train as social worker. Unfortunately, this joy is short-lived as Julie meets an untimely death on Colchester High Street at the age of 61, in an accident with a curry delivery scooter. Devastated, Rob vows to build a ‘temple’ in memory of his beloved Julie - the ‘Taj Mahal upon the Stour’.

‘A House for Essex’ is this extraordinary memorial to Julie’s life. The building explores ideas of Britishness, decorative arts and architectural history while being an important example of architecture’s ability to communicate a rich and powerful story. Highlighting the social and geographical history of Essex, the House and the tale of Julie Cope are a celebration of the special character and unique qualities of the county.

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DISlocations, Joni Smith, Fairhurst Gallery

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I think one of the most important roles of an artist is to hold a mirror up to society, to reveal aspects of our world that might be subtle or obscure, but that resonate.

Joni Smith

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