829 Merchant Seamen from 104 ships, and 1,944 Royal Navy personnel from 18 ships lost their lives on Arctic Convoy duty. In protecting the convoys, the RN sank 5 surface ships, 31 submarines and many, many aircraft. Countless more were pulled from the water, from their ships, and from boats and islands, by the RN and the Convoy Rescue Ship Service. Rescuing sailors meant stopping the ship, leaving it wide open to u-boat or air attack. Referencing the scrambling nets that went over a ships side, and with details of the 18 ships lost, this is my homage to the RN and Convoy Rescue Ships Service.
The sculpture is one of 25 works in a series of artworks both commemorating and offering homage to the work of the men and women of the mercantile marine during the arctic convoys of 1941-45. The works were exhibited as an audio-visual sequential narrative between June 23rd and July 12th 2017 at Gage Gallery in Sheffield. I am currently in talks to restage the exhibition at a different venue in the New Year.
Central to the exhibition were a series of paintings and sculptures, presented as a journey through the eyes of an ordinary merchant seaman engaged in the Arctic Convoy runs of 1941-45. The audience were invited to take the part of the sailor, and immerse themselves in the journey through the artworks and the ambient audio soundscape that accompanied them.
Read more about the exhibition here
Rambling through an abstract landscape 