A new exhibition exploring the scarred landscape of Salisbury Plain has opened at Black Swan Arts in Frome.
‘Cicatrix: Call and Response’ is a First World War centenary project incorporating drawing, installation and film. The work presents an alternative insight into the First World War legacy.
Henny Burnett, Prudence Maltby and Susan Francis are Wiltshire artists whose collaborative partnership is concerned with the effects of the military presence on Salisbury Plain. Their work is united by the concept of scarring – the physical wounds left behind, seen as part of this unique landscape; and then the other scars – obscured but clearly evident as memories mapped within those who have experienced conflict.
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau covering 300 square miles in the heart of Wiltshire. This landscape of extremes is owned by the Ministry of Defence and has been used as a training ground since 1898. Evacuated villages serve as a vital training ground, abandoned by their inhabitants and frozen in time. Neolithic barrows exist alongside First World War trenches; soldiers’ graves, reflecting the nationalities which came to this area to prepare for war, rest beside the remains of Anglo-Saxon warriors.
For the artists, Salisbury Plain presents an empty canvas on which to express the work that is ‘Cicatrix’. Prudence Maltby’s evocative drawings use layer upon layer of mark making to map geographical and psychological scars; Henny Burnett’s work has its roots in the gathering and documenting of artefacts and found materials given up by the land; and Susan Francis presents a series of films revealing hidden images and messages within the silently watchful trees of the Plain. The artists will discuss their work at a talk in the Long Gallery on Saturday 28th April at 2pm.
Cicatrix is a member of the First World War Centenary Partnership, led by Imperial War Museums, and forms a network of regional, national and international cultural and educational organisations. For the project’s four year journey, reflecting the centenary of the First World War, Cicatrix is supported by Wiltshire Council, Arts Council England and the Artists’ International Development Fund.
For further information about the exhibition, please contact Emma Warren at Black Swan Arts on 01373 473980, office@black swan. org.uk or www.blackswan .org.uk.
