Public appeal for photos of military life

11/06/2008

Well-known photographer Julian Germain is appealing to service personnel, ex-service personnel and/or their friends and families to come forward with photographs of life in the armed forces - and the untold stories behind the images.

 

The photos may have been taken whilst serving in a conflict situation, or depict the routine of everyday service life - anything from the ceremonial military occasion to an off-duty celebration. They could have been taken for fun or be an important memento of a special person, place or time. Whether a single picture or a collection, a pristine image framed for posterity or a tatty snapshot that was once carried around in a kit bag - all images are welcome.

 

Julian Germain is well known for his interest in the experiences of people who have served in the military through the photographs that they - or their comrades or friends or families - have made and kept. The aim is to create an exhibition at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, in October 2008, entitled ‘Memory of Fire: The War of Images and Images of War’.

 

All military-related photographs are welcome, but the gallery has outlined a series of questions to help the public get an idea of what they are looking for:

• Are there members of your family who are currently based in war zones?
• How is war captured through the snapshot? What kind of photographs do you take while on duty?
• What kind of images do you take when you are away from home?
• Are you from a family where more than one generation has served in the armed forces? Have you kept some kind of photographic record of their military lives or careers? These could just be snapshots, they do not have to be formal photos.
• Have you any individual photographs from your military lives that are, for whatever reason, special / important to you?
• Of particular interest are photographs that service personnel have taken with them on (perhaps numerous) tours of duty and kept with them at all times. These may be fairly typical images from 'home', but are of special significance.
• For those who remain at home, how do you communicate with the people who are at war? How do you use photography and respond to the pictures of the absent/serving family members? What are your stories and what do photographs mean to you?

 

The photographs do not have to be organised or pristine - they may be in photo albums, loosely kept in envelopes or even stored on a PC - but all of them could be beneficial to the project, as the primary interest of the exhibitors is the people in the photos, and the stories behind them.

 

Please email or post copies/photocopies of the images - do not send original images at this stage - and include some text to tell the exhibitors why the pictures are of importance to you.

 

Please contact Jude Bennett, Exhibitions Co-ordinator, on 023 9277 8080. E-mail: jude@aspex.org.uk, or write to:

 

‘Service personnel images’,

Aspex,

The Vulcan Building,

Gunwharf Quays,

Portsmouth,

PO1 3BF.