Supported using public funds by the National Lottery through the Arts Council England, Changing the Landscape follows Rifleman Barney Griew's first hand account of his journey from Hackney, London to Northern France, training to become a mapmaker and scout in the five months preceding his death on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
During this journey, Barney sent home over 180 illustrated letters, photographs and photographic postcards, often writing more than three times a day for five months - leaving us a unique, multifaceted, three-dimensional view of the run up to the battle.
Unusually, this unpublished archive is interpreted by Barney’s great-niece Kogan, who was originally read the letters as a child by her grandmother, Barney’s sister Fanny. The exhibition includes items and extracts of text from Barney’s unpublished archive, artworks generated by Kogan, archival material from The National Archives and a specially commissioned four part digital video installation by filmmaker Jeremy Bubb.
Changing the Landscape project includes a multimedia visual arts exhibition, education and talks programme.
