Art exhibition shines light on inspiring and moving WW1 stories

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A High School of Dundee art exhibition has shone a light on a series of inspiring and moving stories from the First World War.

As part of its WW1 Centenary commemorations, the School recently unveiled its Great War Portrait Exhibition, a collection of eight pieces of thought-provoking, original artwork produced by pupils in F6.

Having been asked to contemplate how their lives would have been different had they been teenagers during the time of WW1, the young artists came up with the idea of creating portraits which represent individuals or themes which they had come across in their research.

WW1 Art Exhibition

As a result, current High School pupils have been depicted on canvas in representations of soldiers in the Allied trenches which were lined with sandbags manufactured from jute made in Dundee; Canary Girls (women whose work in munitions factories turned their skin yellow); and the stigma of being accused of cowardice.

In addition, the striking artworks also bring to light the wartime advertising promotion of makeup to the female community; the almost celebrity status enjoyed by ‘Air Aces’; and the huge contribution made by the city of Dundee, including countless young men who joined up despite being under enlistment age, to the war effort.

Also represented are former pupils Sir James Alfred Ewing, who played a key role in the decoding of the Zimmermann Telegram which brought America into the War on the side of the Allies, and Annette Pattullo, who was awarded five medals on account of her outstanding military service throughout the Great War and, later, Mesopotamia.

Head of Art, Adam Kerr, said, “The initial focus for the project was to prompt the pupils to consider how different things would have been for them if they had been around at the time of the First World War.

WW1 Art Exhibition

“The pupils felt it might be more impactful to look at individuals and stories of individual plights - some relating to the School and former pupils, some not – and they have done really well to individualise their artworks and put their own slant on them.

“Using pupils to sit as the subjects of most of the portraits helped to reinforce that it could have been them in the very situations and stories which they wanted to draw attention to, if they been around back then. 

“Stories such as the horrors of trench warfare and the dangers of working in a munitions factory might seem alien to a teenager today, but they wouldn’t have been 100 years ago.”

The exhibition is on display in the Main Building. Visitors should report to reception upon arrival.