Batley School of Art

Putting yourself in the moment – 100 years ago

The exhibition at Batley Art Gallery uncovers a different perspective on the great tragedy of those who left for the trenches, never to return. The show presents the war through the eyes of today’s teenagers, reflecting upon their situation had they been born a century earlier.

Artist Andy Farr has taken images of the students at Batley School of Art and placed them in the pictures so that they take on the roles of the young people during the war – becoming rag sorters, munitions workers and soldiers.

“For this project my goal has been to make current teenagers realise that this would have been them,” he said.“Black and white images from the last century can be seen as irrelevant to today’s young people, but putting them into those images enables them to connect with the lives and experiences of their peers from the past.

”One piece was inspired by an image of the Dewsbury Ordnance Depot in 1917. The original photo shows women sorting through the uniforms sent back from the front to be recycled in the mills.In the new version of this image, artist Andy has replaced the original women with students from Batley School of Art.

Another striking piece is based on a 1964 painting by Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte. The idea of student Harrelson Varley, the new work replaces the apple in the original painting with a poppy, musing on the fallen – and how the poppy now represents mass identities.

Batley School of Art course leader Clare Grace said: “At the entrance of Batley School of Art there is a WWI memorial. To our students they are probably just a list of names, but we want those names to become young men and live again for students now and in the future.

“Through working with Andy Farr the students have produced a variety of work to explore WWI. The artwork produced reflects on then and now to enable students to relate their lives to that of the life of the soldiers and their families.“The project encouraged the students to engage with WWI issues, while also enabling them to develop their skills and gain a valuable insight into how a professional painter works.”

The college’s Batley School of Art in Birkdale Road, Dewsbury, formerly Wheelwright School, has a memorial of names of local soldiers - former pupils of the school - who were killed in World War One.

Art tutor Clare Grace said:“We would like our students to look at the memorial, and instead of a name see the young man who sacrificed his life during that terrible war and to have an opportunity to reflect about the wider issues around conflict."