Conflict

Abstract

Conflict draws upon research initiated by objects and documents from WW1 found in both the Redbridge Museum archive and the National Portrait Gallery’s collection. Using fragments of fact as a point of departure, a conceptually driven and non-linear narrative engages the audience with the subject of war and commemoration.

The quagmire of mud that surrounded, impeded and engulfed soldiers during the Battle of Somme and the Battle of Passchendaele became a central theme, and features heavily in each scene. The mud becomes a commemorative substance – a transient and ever shifting memorial that embodies the flesh and bones of the men who were never recovered from the battlefields. In the film, women claw through the mud in search of their lost loved ones, whilst two soldiers cover themselves in mud as they prepare for their fate.

Conflict was commissioned as part of the National Memories – Local Stories creative partcipation project led by the National Portrait Gallery.