LOST GENERATION
If you were 14 on the 4th August 1914 then either you or your friends would not have been alive 4 years later. 30% of 16-20 years olds died during WW1. And of those that survived most would have been physically injured and mentally scarred.
What happened to the world 100 years ago?
The work from the Lost Generation project is NOW available for exhibitions. Please contact Andy Farr if you have an opportunity.
Exhibitions
Andy Farr
Is a Midlands based artist and father. The inspiration for this project came from the thought that 100 years ago my two sons would have been part of the generation of men and boys sent to war.
This project has been part funded by Arts Council England with additional contributions from the Grimmitt Trust and Cockburn School who were in receipt of Heritage Lottery funding.
Lost Generation is a programme of collaborations and exhibitions between Andy Farr and schools designed to make the WW1 centenary relevant to today’s young people.
During the project Andy has worked with art, drama and music students in Leeds, Leamington Spa, Batley, Stafford, Burton upon Trent and Clitheroe
Exhibition Opportunities
To date there have been eight exhibitions, the most recent in Newcastle & Coventry in September 2017. I'm now looking for opportunities for the final year of the centenary, I would love to collaborate with any organisation that wishes to remind people of the contemporary relevance of the WW1.
197
Photographic installation, by Andy Farr taken during the exhibition in the Stewards Gallery at Clitheroe Castle.
Who are the 197?
It is difficult for us to comprehend the scale of the tragedy during the Battle of the Somme. But perhaps when we think of our own children placed in their shoes we can start to understand the sense of loss that would have been felt at that time.
Of the Lancashire men who died on that day at least 197 would have enlisted as school children had they been born 100 years later. Three were still only 17 on that fateful day, James Dickinson from Chorley and Thomas Mitchell and Albert Wilson both from Burnley. For most this was their first taste of battle. They had enlisted full of patriotic fervour but now faced death or mutilation in return for a few yards of mud.
For this photo-wall Andy Farr has taken photographs of young people from schools and youth groups and aged each picture as if it was from the time of the First World War. Each teenager has been labelled with the name of one of the young Lancashire men who died on the first day of the Somme.
Particular thanks to the staff and pupils of Ribblesdale & Bowland High Schools for their enthusiastic cooperation.
Somme Centenary Vigil at Clitheroe Castle
1st July 2016
Clitheroe’s vigil was launched at 7-30am by Ribble Valley Mayor Joyce Holgate. The dawn to dusk vigil began with whistles, just as it did 100 years ago when soldiers went “over the top.”
The Response goes Home
Andy farr meets with Coun Stephenson, Lord Mayor.of Newcastle to hand over his painting "The Response" for permanent display in Newcastle Library.
An artist’s moving and timely twist on one of Newcastle’s most celebrated landmarks is to find a permanent home in the city, thanks to the Lord Mayor.
Andy Farr’s painting, The Response, was inspired by the war memorial of the same name which stands near the Civic Centre.
The Renwick memorial, which commemorates the raising of several battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers during the First World War.
The Andy Farr painting shows two children in 21st Century dress embracing, and in one case being embraced by, the soldiers in the memorial as they march off to war.
The painting, done on three wooden boards and measuring nine feet by five feet, was unveiled last year at an event organised by Newcastle Libraries to mark the unveiling of a memorial to 16th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers.
Film of Bowland High School's commemorative dance production.
