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Armoured
Panel
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50"
x 64" Mixed Media
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The sinking of HMS Hood on the 24th May 1941 by the Bismarck in the seas of the North Atlantic is a huge part of British seafaring legend... An incoming shell from the Bismarck...screaming down... on an almost vertical trajectory, penetrated her 2" deck armour ... exploded in an ammunition magazine and blasted her into oblivion.... She took with her 1418 lives....her entire crew bar three...and ironically in that moment of catastrophic horror...she had fulfilled her function.....Kill or be killed....
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The loss of the Hood stunned the nation. Considered almost unsinkable, the end of this mighty ship sent a shudder through the whole of British society.... In Clydebank ..it was recorded.. "That a visible depression was observed amongst the workforce on the loss of this great ship" ...through the perspective of my family I remember it differently.... |
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As
a child I can clearly recall at family gatherings, moments of
poignant silence, when crew who had been billeted in the town
were remembered...and stories of her construction ... related
with enormous pride ...every rivet, every plate, every pipe, turbine
blade, and on and on, until every minute component been accounted
for.
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What
was being recalled were not 'objects'...but 'effort'.and 'pride'
....and immeasurable amounts of 'energy' and 'skill. The combined
efforts of an entire community in the construction of an object
that represented the "pride of a nation". These people
had invested blood (she had taken two lives and seriously injured
hundreds during her construction) and sweat in the production
of this national symbol ....and in that spectacular moment of
destruction she had taken all that with her....
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How does one, as a direct decedent of these artisans, represent this in an image...without offending their perception...
I thought long and hard about how this could be attempted.....I studied hundreds of pictures of the Hood under construction ...and after reflecting...decided that in "my dreams" ...I would go to the bottom of that cold North Atlantic ...cut out a section of that vulnerable plating and bring it to the surface so that it could be examined in minute detail...the steel equivalent of the Turin Shroud.
The painting is life scale... and has a presence difficult to reproduce in a small image. It shows a seam with a double row of rivets blackened by the blast of cordite..The surface of the plate is deeply scarred by the impact of shrapnel from the single lethal blow. The grey paint that covered the ship has long dissolved....revealing the calligraphy of the shipbuilder. Markings; seemingly abstract and mysterious, are in fact accurate, taken from archive photographs in the area of the hit...The painting is 2" deep, edged with acetylene cut metal....blue and burned.
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