Soldaat Jean Raes, Soldaat Alphonse Verdickt, Time unknown / 21.9.1914, Walem, Mechelen, Antwerpen (Shot at Dawn series) (2014)

Chloe Dewe Mathews’s captivating narrative photographs focus on notions of identity, memory and history, exploring the relationship between people, places and landscapes. In her research-based documentary practice, which often involves extended periods of travelling, Dewe Mathews seeks to uncover the hidden and unknown through photography.

Dewe Mathews’s series Shot at Dawn, consisting of 23 images, concentrates on the sites at which soldiers from the British, French and Belgian armies were executed for cowardice and desertion during World War I. The images depict locations where the soldiers were held in the period leading up to their deaths or shot. The artist ensured that all photos were seasonally accurate and taken as close as possible to the time of the day at which the executions originally occurred. Dewe Mathews spent months researching the individual cases, sifting through court-martial documents, using old aerial photographs and monastery diaries to pinpoint the precise locations where each man died. By photographing the sites and giving the works titles that resemble archival labels, Dewe Mathews has reinserted the individual into that space, stamping the soldier’s presence back onto the land so that their histories are not forgotten.

The three photographs of the Shot at Dawn series acquired for the Graves Gallery are a significant addition to the gallery’s holdings, enabling the further development of the ‘narrative’ and ‘identity’ strands of its contemporary collection. These poignant images complement Sheffield’s existing collection of historic works exploring World War I, offering a fresh and very personal perspective on this world-changing event. The works also augment the museum’s growing collection of contemporary photography.

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