Brenda, Marion

2019, cyanotype on fabric, 102 x 76 cm each (2 of 4) The four banners were inspired by stories told by Marion and Brenda. Both were in the Women’s Air Auxiliary Force during WW2. Brenda signed up to the WAAF and was based in barracks in Oxfordshire during the war. Marion drove ambulances to aircraft that had come down, navigating through the dark. She wasn’t allowed near the crash site as she might see something too upsetting for a woman. The four cyanotype banners have been cut from a used bed sheet, alluding to the body and the domestic. I traced shapes directly from the WAAF uniform in the museum collection on to tracing paper, and cut them out. Then arranged these in four different compositions onto the fabric and exposed them to light. In contrast to a lot of the work in the exhibition, the banners were intentionally light, referring to the air, the sky and lightness in both meanings of the word. Each composition represents a female warrior. The ladies talked about the liberation the war bought for them, but of course with rare exception, women were not allowed to pilot planes. These banners are intended to commemorate these heroic women who weren’t allowed to fly. Installation view Worthing Museum, part of solo exhibition and research project Memory of Clothes with the museum and Guildcare care home for the elderly. Funded by Arts Council England. Photo: Andrew Youngson.