Blackberry Tonic

Following the discovery of the National Blackberry Collection around Deal in the Kent Messenger (07/09/1918), the simple collective act of picking blackberries reveals the resilience of Home Front communities during World War One inside and around the town’s built landscape. As the war continued, local landmarks such as the Town Hall transformed to co-exist with the various needs of a community living with war becoming first aid stations and hospitals whilst school children were tasked to pick blackberries to make jam for the trenches. Artist Colin Priest is working with Deal Town Council to create a new piece of work for Deal Town Hall assembling found narratives about the town and the National Blackberry Collection through film, found artifacts, photography, an open call for recipes and performance enlivening the significant built heritage of the area and vitality of the skyward perspective in recovery. The work titled Blackberry Tonic is part of Codename: Joined Up, a project connecting contemporary artists with museums and heritage sites through WW1-related history and managed by Dover Arts Development.

The Blackberry Tonic Scratch Performance, a work-in-progress event took place in the Town Hall on Friday 30th October 2015 at 7pm. Silent films made in and around the Town Hall, featuring living historians Andrew and Muriel Morgan and some readings from A Nurse at the Front: The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton by the artist, piano accompanied the evening with a selection of early 20th century piano pieces from composers such as Arthur De Greef, Federico Mompou and Melanie Helene Bonis.

• http://www.dadonline.eu/projects/dmag-ww...