Bringing the war home, war of the worlds and goldfish.
Martha Rosler, Bringing the war home
Bringing the war home was a montage project by Martha Rosler. As seen in the image above she is taking scenes from the war in Vietnam and montaging them into daily life. The idea is to bring home the war and put it in everyone’s living room. The war in Vietnam was highly political at the time and there was a lot of objection to it. Here the absurdity of the montage makes a powerful statement showing that this is not on the other side of the world, it’s right here behind your curtains. It reminded me of a project that I did some years back now, a finished project and one I started but never finished.
Living in the seaside town of Whitstable, just off the shore and visible on good days are remains of the air defences from the second world war. These are the Mansell forts, long abandoned and crumbling back in to the sea, they are a very curious sight. The town offers boat rides to go out and see them, which we did once, and of course took photographs of them. Their curious structures have always reminded me of H.G.Wells, War of The Worlds, so I decided to sit down and create the battle of Whitstable. Taking shots I had from our trip to the forts and photos I had taken over the years of world war 2 aircraft I decided to see what might happen if they came to life and invaded Whitstable!
Another famous landmark in Whitstable is the pub that stands right on the beach, the Old Neptune. This has always been the subject of many an image from day trippers and locals alike, but I wanted to do something different with it. Sitting there on the beach, it always reminded me of a scene from a gold fish bowl, so I set about making it so.
The Old Neptune, Matt Arnold, 2018
Of course, my images are not political like those from Martha Rosler; mine are whimsical and amusing. The creations of my childish mind wandering. But nonetheless a good exploration of montage work in my local area and a fresh change from the normal pretty pictures of sunsets and images of the “pub on the beach at sunset” that are produced in the thousands on a daily basis throughout the summer!