Exhibition draws on University's First World War archive for inspiration

Visual artist Juliet MacDonald has spent months working with material in the University’s unrivalled Liddle Collection of letters, photos and memorabilia relating to the First World War. 

As part of the project, funded by The Leverhulme Trust’s Artist in Residence scheme, some of the resulting work goes on show from today at the University’s Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery in a show called Inhalation. 

The Liddle Collection, part of the University’s Special Collections housed in its Brotherton Library, contains the personal papers, oral testimonies, photos and memorabilia of more than 4,000 veterans and their relatives.

Its contents tell the stories of ordinary people in the trenches and on the home front. Some of its artefacts and possessions were donated many years after the war by ex-servicemen and their families.

During visits to the archive over the last 10 months, Juliet has been using drawing as a means of exploring the collection and responding to the material she has found there. 

“This has been an amazing opportunity to work with such material first-hand. I’ve enjoyed opening up the boxes and spending time reading, looking, listening and drawing,” she said.

“The work I’ve created may encourage others to make contact with these surviving testimonies. I see the processes of cataloguing, listing, filing and wrapping as ways of caring for the memory of previous generations, and so the archive staff have an important task.”

As well as the new exhibition, the residency saw a public lecture given at Leeds Art Gallery in May, as well as opportunities for members of the public to explore the Liddle Collection at artist-run drawing workshops.

The artist’s work is linked to Legacies of War, the University’s First World War centenary project. 

Dr Claudia Sternberg, who leads Legacies of War’s Culture and Arts strand, said: 

“Watching an artist at work and attending the workshops has been eye-opening – quite literally. It’s been exciting to see how items from the collection are transformed by the use of different media. 

“What also intrigues me is how, in the exhibition, Juliet connects the cleanliness of the archive, the rough or fading quality of its content and the diversity of experiences represented. 

“As a counterpoint to all of her careful handling of the archive, Juliet visited the site of a former munitions factory in Leeds. What she found there has become part of the display and invites reflection about war, the body and matter.”

• Inhalation runs at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery in the University’s Parkinson Building until Saturday, August 22 (Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm; admission free). For further details, visit http://library.leeds.ac.uk/features/415/article/118/inhalation.

Further information 

Juliet MacDonald is based in Leeds. She has held solo exhibitions and short term residences in the UK and abroad, and is Research Fellow in Art at the University of Huddersfield. For more information about her work, see http://www.axisweb.org/p/julietmacdonald/

• To arrange interviews, contact Gareth Dant, Press Officer, on 0113 3433996 or email g.j.dant@leeds.ac.uk.

Legacies of War

Legacies of War was established four years ago as a research and public engagement venture in anticipation of the 1914-18 war’s centenary. The project team includes researchers from several Schools within the University’s Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Performance, Visual Arts & Communications: Languages, Cultures and Societies; History; Classics; Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies and Philosophy, Religion & the History of Science.