A photographic exhibition exploring the personal stories of women affected by war will open at the Museum of Liverpool this summer.
From 24 July until February 2016, the touring ‘Poppies: Women and War’ display will showcase striking portraits of women whose lives have been affected by conflict, from the First World War to the present day at the city venue. They will feature alongside botanical images of poppies; the symbol of remembrance.
Photographer Lee Karen Stow has created the images to enable visitors to learn more and consider the impact of conflict.
She says: “This is not an attempt to cover every conflict, or to dare hope for peace. My research and my portraits grow organically as women and their stories enter into my own awakening.”
Lee’s interest in the idea came from her own mother’s experience of the Blitz in the Second World War.
Portraits within the exhibition include local women such as Tracy Dunn-Bridgeman, whose son, Kingsman Jason Dunn-Bridgeman, 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, was shot and killed on foot patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan; and Colonel Debbie Telford T.D L/QARANC who is the first female to command the 208 Field Hospital Territorial Army, now known as the Army Reserve.
The exhibition also features objects including Kingsman Dunn-Bridgeman’s identity tags and a ceramic poppy from the ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ art installation at the Tower of London in 2014.
Karen O’Rourke, curator of urban and military history at the Museum of Liverpool, says: “It is an honour to have this exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool. The impact of conflict on women is often overlooked. Through Lee’s captivating portraits, some of their stories are able to be told.”
The exhibition is part of National Museums Liverpool’s programme commemorating the centenary of the First World War.
By Eleanor Davies
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