A unique University of St Andrews project focusing on the impact and legacy of war on ordinary citizens has been selected to be part of the prestigious IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, a national programme of 22 artist commissions inspired by the heritage of conflict created in partnership with Imperial War Museums (IWM) and 14-18 NOW, the official UK arts programme for the First World War centenary.
‘Visualising War’, an interdisciplinary research project with its own podcast, has been awarded £20,000 of funding which will allow it to tackle a question as relevant now as it has ever been: ‘How can we understand the rupture, loss and long-standing struggles experienced by people displaced from their homes through war?’
The funding will help ensure the project’s reach is extended across Fife, with exhibitions featuring newly commissioned artwork on the theme of forced displacement planned to take place in Kirkcaldy and St Andrews next year.
Welcoming the announcement, Dr Alice König, senior lecturer in the School of Classics and Director of ‘Visualising War’, explained the project is looking specifically at the impact of forced migration on ordinary people.
Dr König, who also hosts the project’s podcast, said: “We are looking forward to working with artist Diana Forster, who is creating a series of storytelling panels that will walk us through her mother’s experiences as a child, when she was forcibly displaced from Poland to Soviet Russia during WWII.
“This funding will also enable us to learn from people who have first-hand experience of forced migration in the 21st century, and we hope that our exhibitions will kick-start lots of conversations not just about forced migration but about the many different ripple effects of conflict on individuals and communities.”
Diane Lees, Director-General of IWM, said: “IWM is delighted to be working in close partnership with such a breadth of UK organisations on this ambitious programme of art commissioning. After a challenging couple of years for the arts sector, we hope that the unprecedented opportunities enabled by the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund will kick-start cultural dialogue as we recover from the wide-reaching impacts of Covid-19.”
