YELLOW

YELLOW 2014 Triptych of laser cut cardboard relief structures sited in the locker room at Explosion, Museum of Naval Firepower, Priddy's Hard, Gosport, Hampshire. Originally exhibited as part of A SHORT FUZE, a site inspired solo exhibition of wall based work and sculptural installations set in the galleries and 18th century Museum buildings at Explosion Museum, June – November 2014. As artist in residence at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Helen Snell has access to the extraordinary archives across all of the Museums. As a response to the armoury and collection of cannon, big guns, mines, torpedoes, modern missiles at Explosion, she has reflected on the human stories behind these chilling objects to question the sometimes irreconcilable contradictions that shape the call of duty. She seeks to question how and why our powers of empathy fail, and what causes complex systems of communication and diplomacy to break down, resulting in violent conflict. Snell reminds us of our inadequacies as human beings. The role of female munitions workers at Priddy's Hard, Gosport in WW2 provides a fascinating insight into the contradictory world of duty and destruction. In the archive photographs the workers are seen to be contributing to the war effort, fulfilling their patriotic duty on the assembly line, but they appear to be anaesthetised to the devastating consequences of their actions. Did these women sleep well at night? Had they seen human flesh mutilated by cordite and other explosives? How did they rationalise their participation in the war effort? Dr Harold Gillies (1983: 347), the pioneering plastic surgeon who repaired faces of seamen burned by cordite in the Battle of Jutland, wrote his case notes of the horrific damage done to men’s faces by cordite burns, the loss of eyelids, the burning of skin down to the bone: Of the cases of facial burns that have come to me for treatment all had an involvement of the eyelids. This is frequently the most important element of the disfigurement and disability. While in the more severe cases the nose is burned to the bone, the mouth is contracted and the whole of the facial skin has been replaced by epitheliased scar tissue. The oval yellow vignette is a nod to a decorative and more sentimental nineteenth century framing convention and by extension the rather idealised view of female munitions workers as a glorious new breed of emancipated, independent trouser- wearing women. The reality is in fact far more complex and the psychological legacy of munitions work remains obscure. The vignette is derived from images of blast holes in the hulls of naval ships, the red background is indicative of a damaged eye socket. The munitions worker becomes gradually intertwined and submerged in a web of cordite. The women are ostensibly doing their duty, helping their ‘mother country’, just as other mothers, wives, daughters in other countries might have been doing, complicit in the of killing each other’s sons, husbands, brothers, fathers and so on. The same synchronicity of experience and the same destruction of family, regardless of nationality. There is a surreal domesticity in some of the archive photographs where women are dressed like home economics teachers in their caps and overalls, weighing the cordite on scales that you might find in a butcher’s or grocer’s shop. The long lengths of cordite are reminiscent of spaghetti. The toxicity of the chemicals used to manufacture cordite dyed their hair and skin yellow, caused dermatitis, immune and respiratory disorders (BBC WW2 People’s War 2004) . Less well known was that the same yellow colouring could apparently be passed on to their children who were quaintly referred to as the 'Canary Babies'. Yellow is also associated with jaundice and cowardice. These women workers whose bodies are physiologically designed to grow new life are making weapons to destroy life. Critical Military Studies Journal YELLOW by Helen Snell Article published by Taylor & Francis October 2015 This is a peer-reviewed, international and interdisciplinary journal publishing scholarly work conceptualizing, critiquing and challenging accepted orthodoxies on all aspects of the military.