Today I cycled to a local gallery to see Lee Miller's exhibition 'Lee Miller's War'. I have seen a fair bit of her photographs when I visited Copenhagen in 2009 and have continually been intrigued by both her work and her life. When you look at the images she captured during the 2nd World War it is hard to believe what was happening to people and yet, war and death continue to happen on a daily basis still, in our 'modern' day world.. many of us continue with our lives regardless, we probably feel helpless on so many levels and in many ways we are, we are removed from the attrocities in Syria, Africa and many other places apart from what we are fed through our TV...this is the real tragedy about war - some of us want to help but feel powerless to do so.
I try to imagine what it must've been like for Lee Miller after she had been exposed to so much suffering and death. I guess like anything, you become immune to it on some level when you see such tragedy on a daily basis. Although my post sounds a tad depressing, I have come away from the exhibition with a further renewed inspiration. My favourite work from the exhibition is the more macabre of the images, the dead SS soldier in the canal, the SS soldier who had been beaten badly.. I don't know why these resonate but they do. I guess I am fascinated by the macabre on many levels. Less macabre was an image of an operating table with nurses and doctors surrounding a patient with an oxygen mask, I loved this image, not only for the lighting and composition but the element of hope. I will never know whether the patient on the operating table lived through the ordeal but I like to hope they did, hope is an important part of the human condition. I also enjoyed the film to accompany the exhibition about Lee's life, footage of her earlier years and later life on Farley Farm.. I remember talking to the lovely Tim Andrews (who I photographed this year) about Lee Miller and Farley Farm.. he held an exhibition of his project there not so long ago and in many ways, it's good that Lee Miller's son is maintaining her memory and photographs. So today I came away with a renewed inspiration for some work that I am looking forward to shoot in January in an old photographic studio. I don't yet know what the creativity will be but I have some ideas for it already floating around my mind. I shall also return to the exhibition for a second look. Thank you Lee Miller for showing the world the truth of the darker side of human nature and the hope humans often keep within themselves to survive the most awful of situations. Thank you too for giving me a renewed inspiration towards my my next photographic shoot...
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