Cicatrix: the Scar of a Healed Wound is a new exhibition at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery exploring the impact of World War I on the landscape and psyche of Wiltshire.
A project commemorating the centenary of the end of the war, the contemporary art exhibition features works by Prudence Maltby, Susan Francis and Henny Burnett, as well as Commonwealth artists Caro Williams (New Zealand), Catherine Farish (Canada) and Sophie Cape (Australia).
Cicatrix features art in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, print and a sound installation.
It examines the concept of scarring: the physical marks left behind - the scars on the landscape, people and psyche of Wiltshire. These may be visible on the landscape, or obscured but evident as memories mapped within those who have experienced the conflict.
Curator Sophie Cummings said it was an evolving project: “It is all a response to the legacy of World War I on the landscape of Wiltshire, in places such as Salisbury and Porton Down.
“It’s a real mix of painting, drawing, sculpture, sound and film - there’s something for everyone. Susan Francis’s film explores the history of Porton Down in response to the use of mustard gas in the trenches.”
Porton Down was founded in 1916 during World War I and is the oldest chemical warfare research installation in the world, developing chemical weapons such as mustard gas and nerve gas.
An installation by Henry Burnett called 100 Wiltshire Towers features 100 casts of thumbs-up mascots given to soldiers by their sweethearts.
The exhibition explores ideas of memory and the continuing legacy of the war a century after its end.
Sophie will be giving a free lunchtime tour of the exhibition at 12.30pm on November 2.
Cicatrix is a member of the First World War Centenary Partnership, led by Imperial War Museums, and it forms a network of regional, national and international cultural and educational organisations.
The exhibition opened on September 12 September at the gallery on Bath Road, and runs till Saturday December 1. Opening times are 11am to 4.30pm Tuesday to Saturday and admission is free.
Swindon Museum and Art Gallery is the only venue where this exhibition will be displayed in its entirety.
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