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Description

The Art Project ’Where are you Mama?’ and is inspired by the Napoleonic Wars ‘Retreat from Moscow’ of 1812, where Napoleon and his Army had to march back through Russia in the deep Winter.

I’ve always been fascinated by the retreat of the French Army over the frozen Russian landscape, with the vengeful Russians at their tails. The stories and accounts from the time are so horrendous, crazy, mad and inspiring, all at the same time! I really wanted to create some artwork on the theme, so I set about thinking of a project.

What struck me about the ordeal was the frightening guilt and despair of it all. I wanted to continue the mental health theme of last month, so I chose to focus on the breakdown of those people trudging through the snow. I could imagine through tiredness and fear they would start to see things and shapes in the snow, dream of figures ‘coming to get them’ and the like. With no place to rest or find comfort I could imagine it would slowly erode away at you, leaving you even more shaken and tearful. The added terrible element to me is that they were also walking back through lands they had previously been ‘victorious’ over, and mistreated the local inhabitants. The sense of fear and guilt must have been huge!

Description

The Art Project ’Where are you Mama?’ and is inspired by the Napoleonic Wars ‘Retreat from Moscow’ of 1812, where Napoleon and his Army had to march back through Russia in the deep Winter.

I’ve always been fascinated by the retreat of the French Army over the frozen Russian landscape, with the vengeful Russians at their tails. The stories and accounts from the time are so horrendous, crazy, mad and inspiring, all at the same time! I really wanted to create some artwork on the theme, so I set about thinking of a project.

What struck me about the ordeal was the frightening guilt and despair of it all. I wanted to continue the mental health theme of last month, so I chose to focus on the breakdown of those people trudging through the snow. I could imagine through tiredness and fear they would start to see things and shapes in the snow, dream of figures ‘coming to get them’ and the like. With no place to rest or find comfort I could imagine it would slowly erode away at you, leaving you even more shaken and tearful. The added terrible element to me is that they were also walking back through lands they had previously been ‘victorious’ over, and mistreated the local inhabitants. The sense of fear and guilt must have been huge!