Darkness Shall Cover Me is on view at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center from Sept 24th to October 31st 2021.
Darkness Shall Cover Me explores strategic bombing in World War One. The exhibition includes a large scale cyanotype, quilted fiber pieces, and a series of paper sculptures inspired by archaeological practice.
Pilots of the First World War, the first conflict that included the air as a fighting front, were and still are often treated as noble knights fighting a gentlemanly battle high above the trenches. In truth, they were as much part of the carnage as anyone else, and their work in the First World War paved the way for the unspeakably devastating aerial campaigns of the 20th century.
The mind does not grasp horror in the abstract, which makes investigating conflict challenging. To overcome this, the works in this exhibition focus on human stories and personal reflections, bringing the messy picture of casualty figures down to relatable individual experiences. The elements of the exhibition—cyanotype, quilts, and paper sculptures—draw upon historically appropriate materials, a sense of commemoration, and emphasize a muted color palette, all with an aim to connect viewers with the lived experience of the bomber pilots and bombing victims of a century ago.
