Battle of Britain Pilots
Through this exhibition I wanted to make a clear link between the young men they once were, flying their Spitfires and Hurricanes in 1940, and who they are today, seventy-five years on. They are a part of history - a critical moment in our country's past - and yet they are still with us, still alive, an older version of the fighter pilots they were during that momentous summer of 1940.
I have painted the portraits on aluminium in order to capture the relationship between the pilots and their planes. Glimpses of metal come through faces creating a sense of unity between the pilots and their aircraft.
These pictures have then been attached to two metre high free-standing aluminium sheets: they are placed in formation, symbolic of the planes themselves. Through sanding the metal a feeling of wind rushing over the fuselage is imitated. Attached is also a ribbon design of riveted metal strips - these denote the interconnection and close formations in which they flew. The raised riveted frames surrounding the portraits are also representational of their enclosure within this tight, but isolated space.
In between the pieces original film footage from the Battle of Britain was shown continually.