Timelines

Timelines is a panoramic film which focuses on the surface of a highly decorated brass tray that was made in Iraq in the wake of the First world War and is now held in the V&A Collection. The tray is said to depict events on Armistice Day, 1918, in the Iraqi town of al-Hindiyyah. First World War biplanes fly over the river Euphrates which cuts across the centre of the tray, crowds of highly stylised Arab men and women and British soldiers in uniform are shown from a bird’s eye view on either side of the river.

Using ultra close-up photographs of the engraved surface of the tray and computer animation, the film transforms the flattened perspective of these scenes into a series of vast and varied landscapes. Alongside this visual journey, a distinctive voice emerges - the artist draws upon interviews with her mother, recalling personal experiences of growing up in Britain as the child of Irish immigrants and living in Iraq through intense social and political change.

• https://townereastbourne.org.uk/whats-on...
• https://www.fvu.co.uk/projects/timelines