Helmand exhibition curated by Paratroopers
02/10/2007
In a bold move the National Army Museum’s newly opened show HELMAND: The Soldiers’ Story attempts to explain a conflict whilst it continues to unfold – the first time a heritage exhibition has done so.
It is also groundbreaking in that it was written, built, and contributed to, by soldiers who have just fought in Afghanistan, and will again – unlike previous shows at the museum. Men from 16 Air Assault Brigade, of which the Parachute Regiment is a part, were the first NATO troops into Helmand Province in April 2006. On returning from their tour, the Brigade suggested the exhibition as a way of giving the public an insight into their own experiences.
More than 150 of these soldiers have contributed written and oral accounts, photographs, footage, personal diaries, letters and emails, and personal objects relating to the tour. The Museum will also be adding the blogs of soldiers serving in Afghanistan to its website in the coming months.
Posted in Engagement, Museum
Scott Billings Says:This is very interesting and shows just how a museum can respond directly to live issues - in this case events which have arguably not even passed into immediate history, but are still unfolding and are incredibly emotionally charged.
Publishing blogs from soldiers serving in Afghanistan is also interesting from a curatorial point of view because it moves the creation of content away from ‘museum people’ and raises all sorts of questions about fact, opinion and interpretation that museums attempting to cover contemporary issues face. The following policy statement from the NAM website seems to sit awkwardly with the Helmland exhibition (which is not quite history or (entirely) fact), but makes the idea of the exhibition all the more challenging.
“The National Army Museum presents historical fact. We know that many different people will interpret the information that we provide, both on our website and in the galleries, in different ways. We recognise that while many people in Britain and beyond will support some of the actions of the British Army in the past, today, and in the future, others will disagree with or condemn these actions. Our concern is to provide the facts that may help our users to form their own opinions, either through a visit to this website or to the Museum itself.”
I was interested in this particularly because I recently wrote an article for Museums Journal trying to cover some of these types of issues - scott-billings.blogspot.com.