Defence Mechanisms: The Plotting Room

A series of work exploring the No. 11 Group Operations Room in Uxbridge, known as the the Battle of Britain Bunker. The site is preserved as it was in September 1940 the most critical part of the battle when very fate of Britain hung in the balance.

Imagery signifies the personnel that operated in the subterranean network of rooms and corridors. Wooden blocks on the plotting room map symbolise squadrons of Hurricane and Spitfire pilots flying to face the Luftwaffe. Carved initials visible under telephone cables, represent layers of time obscuring the past. A collection of ‘croupier sticks’ stacked in a corner like brooms in a store cupboard once moved units into position across the battle map.

The photographs submitted respond to the Dark Matters section of the exhibition, where notions of threat and vulnerability are explored. They are part of a wider series entitled Defence Mechanisms which seek to examine spaces and places which are symbolic of the basic need for security and protection.

• https://www.lukewatsonphotography.com/pl...
• https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum...