GLASGOW.- Artist Rachel Lowther unveiled an exhibition of new work created in response to research into The Glasgow School of Art’s Archives and Collections WWI holdings today, 16 January 2016. The work, which is on show in the GSA’s Reid Gallery until 20 March, ranges from “bruised” life-sized sculptures to video works and delicate embroideries and textiles, and responds not only to the impact of WWI but of contemporary conflicts around the globe.

“In this time of WWI anniversaries it is also important not to forget that war and conflict continue to rage round the world today,” says Rachel.

Whilst there are pieces in the exhibition that specifically reference material in the GSA’s WWI archives much of the new work relates to contemporary conflicts with the impact of war on young people particularly strongly reflected: indeed the show’s title – Nothing compares to the first time being shot at - is words of a young soldier fighting in Afghanistan in 2010. One of the life-sized sculptures remembers four young boys killed on the beach in Gaza, a beautiful embroidery turns out to be the bruised eyes of a young girl injured in a bomb blast and another piece relates to the torture of young people in Syria.

Of the work that looks back to WWI and its impact on young people one is drawn from Rachel’s own family history referencing how a white feather, a symbol of perceived cowardice, impacted on her mother’s uncle. “Carl was only 17 but prompted by this flimsiest and gentlest of objects he signed up even though he was under age,” explains Rachel. “This act was to lead to his death on the battlefield in France aged only 18.” In the exhibition publicity image Rachel dresses as a chicken posing beside one of her life-size sculptures. Meanwhile, part of the costume is represented in the exhibition on an anti tank barrier the legs of which are covered with children’s tights.

Among the works inspired by letters in the GSA archives are a number of embroideries all of which are shown on pieces of stone recovered from the Mackintosh Library after the fire. In one particularly poignant piece Rachel traces the handwriting of a young GSA student who had signed up and been sent to the western front. In a letter home he writes “I am now marked fit… and am once more for the firing line.” In this context it was with a frisson that Rachel read a memo in the GSA Archives written by then director, Francis (Fra) Newbery from September 1914 committing “to take an active role in the matter of obtaining recruits from among the student body.”

Violence infuses the intimate and domestic in the exhibition. Elsewhere banners made from floral bed sheets are printed with images from war ravaged cities, or men wrestling; a film depicts a little boy at play, acting out a brutal battle royal with a hoard of burly action figures.

Rachel Lowther researched the “shelves and shelves” of documents held in the GSA’s WWI archives. In the complementary exhibition, which she has curated, the public is given a rare chance to see some of this original archival material which Rachel researched as part of her commission.

Among the pieces on display are letters from the front written on scraps of paper, others sent by parents of deceased students informing the Director of the GSA of their fate, letters from the GSA supporting the families of deceased students, drawings done at the western front, in memoriam cards and the September 1914 letter from Newbery committing to actively support raising recruits. One can only imagine how he felt in the years after writing the letter when faced with the death and injury of so many staff and students.

Two particularly moving pieces are a piece of writing by Henry Alison, a painting tutor who was seriously injured in the war losing the ability to use his right hand. Two handwritten pages show him practicing to write with his left hand. Meanwhile, in a photograph taken some years after the war when he had returned to the GSA he stands with his left profile to the camera hiding his physical disfigurement.

Also among the pieces on show is correspondence between Mackintosh and Newbery following Mackintosh’s arrest as a “spy.

“Dear Mr Newbery, I am writing to ask if you will please write me a letter setting forth your knowledge of me personally…You can believe me when I say that neither of us has done anything to deserve being placed in our present unfortunate position….” ---Extract from a letter from Charles Rennie Mackintosh to Francis Newbery

[Mackintosh’s outputs] fitly come under the head of the outputs of a man of genius….. I esteem Mr Mackintosh as a man of honour and probity, a lover of his country. ---Extract from the reply from Francis Newbery

Rachel Lowther’s archival research and exhibition were commissioned by The Glasgow School of Art, with support from Museums Galleries Scotland WWI Fund.

Joanne Orr, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland, said “This project by The Glasgow School of Art exemplifies what Museums Galleries Scotland hoped to support through our WWI Fund. We asked for new ways of commemorating the First World War and the lasting impact it has had on Scotland’s people and cultural landscape and the work by Rachel Lowther forms a lasting and thought provoking legacy for new generations.”