When Peace Erupts, Vittorio Veneto, Italy, 2018
In 2018, I was chosen to represent the United Kingdom in When Peace Erupts, an international exhibition in Vittorio Veneto commemorating 100 years since the end of the First World War.
Curated by Dimitri Ozerkov, the project brought together artists from every European country involved in the conflict, each creating new works to be placed in dialogue with the city’s history. Working alongside such esteemed artists, each with different stories and practices, was truly inspiring. I feel deeply grateful to have been invited, to share in this exchange, and to leave my piece We Can Move Mountains as a permanent fixture in the city.
My work was exhibited alongside these incredible artists: Italy — Dario Agrimi, France — Anaïs Chabeur, Hungary — Zsolt Asztalos, Greece — Bill Balaskas, Germany — Johanna Jaeger, Czechia — Anna Hulacová, Serbia — Nina Ivanović, Russia — Andrey Kuzkin, Austria — Christiane Peschek, Belgium — Sarah Smolders, Croatia — Philip Topolovac
On the site visit to Vittorio Veneto to research the project and the history in that area, one of the most impactful facts I learnt was that the town was so heavily bombed during the first world war that it lost eight meters from the top of its highest mountain peak. This fact formed the basis of my proposal for the project. I wanted to symbolically give the town back the mountain top. I carved a marble mountain peak to leave in the town and created a scale model for consideration of the town council to make an 8m tall steel outline in the local public park with accessible seating underneath.
