TIME BLEEDS GROUP SHOW SASSOON ROOM, FOLKESTONE
September 29th —November 7^th 2014

A group show with Viola Films, Helen And Colin David, Matt Rowe, Simon Pruciak.

The film Time Bleeds is directed by Samuel Supple and produced by Debra McGee of Viola Films.

“What happens if we forget?” The seaside town of Folkestone, Kent, UK was the gateway to the war for over eight million troops.

Time Bleeds Film

To complement the Time Bleeds film, and work by artists Matt Rowe and Simon Pruciak, Helen David and Colin David have created several pieces.

These works continue the key concerns in their practice with themes that question the sense of identity: nationality, migration, folklore, mythology and the cycle of life and death.

This piece and the following images were in Time Bleeds, a group show at Folkestone Library October/November 2014.

And Still You Whisper Of The War [foreground] and Memento Mori  Billboard [detail]

Helen and Colin David

Cotton, textile dyes 26 m x 22 cm

The title of this piece, by Helen and Colin David, is a quote from the war poet, Siegfried Sassoon. Bunting is part of Folkestone’s vernacular. It is a festive, popular British seaside decoration. Subverting bunting’s usual purpose, this piece is comprised of 101 triangles, one for each year from 1914 to 2014. Based on information about British military history, found in Wikipedia, [and intentionally not researched further] the red triangles represent years when Britain was at war and the white triangles years when Britain was at peace.

Helen and Colin David

Cotton, textile dyes 26 m x 22 cm

Pro Patria Mori and And Still You Whisper Of The War [foreground]

With Ghillie works by Matt Rowe

Colin and Helen David

Cast foam, flocking. 2 m diameter x 60 cm

The title of this piece, meaning To Die For One’s Country, is from the Wilfred Owen poem, Dulce et Decorum Est.
It comprises a circle of red antlers. Helen and Colin David often use antlers in their work. Deer are a very ancient British animal and as such symbolize some of the elusive and enduring qualities of pre-Christian folk art.

Deer are also a metaphor for soldiers; they seem brave, and almost disciplined. If you shoot a deer amid the herd the others do not react.
Stags grow massive antlers every year for the sole purpose of fighting other stags to impress the does. It’s like growing a weapon. The winning stags have several mates, but the losers have none. They fight for the right to reproduce. While growing, antlers are protected by natural velvet. The flocking on the antlers refers to this. This velvet also protects a blood supply to the antlers. When they are fully grown the deer rub off the velvet and the antlers harden. After the rutting season, the antlers fall off, as the deer no longer need them.

Colin and Helen David

Cast foam, flocking. 2 m diameter x 60 cm

Helen and Colin David

Crystal, metal, embroidery on linen 10 x 7 x 6.5 cm

This piece, titled with a quote from John Berger, is by Helen and Colin David. It comprises a crystal case, containing a scrap of linen, embroidered with the word Hope. It speaks to the question of remembrance and the hope that a loved one’s life is not lost in war.

Death is the end of identity, a fallen soldier is not only lost as a person, but it is also impossible for him to have a future, to have hopes and dreams.

This tiny piece was shown on a plinth at the end of the bunting by a large window.

Helen and Colin David

Crystal, metal, embroidery on linen 10 x 7 x 6.5 cm

Memento Mori Billboard

Digital print on hardboard 4.88 m x 2.44 m

Helen and Colin David

Floral Ghillie Billboard by Matt Rowe

Digital print on hardboard 4.88 m x 2.44 m

Matt Rowe and Helen and Colin David have created billboards that after the show in the Sassoon room will be relocated to Folkestone harbour, the original point of departure for WW1 soldiers going to the front line. This area features significantly in the Time Bleeds film. Putting the works in this site-specific loca- tion will transform them from exhibition prints to a sculptural intervention.

The action of placing them in the public domain to fade and decay is suggestive of our collective memory of the Great War, the way its vibrancy and impact are subdued and weathered away over time.