Faces of Battle
The National Army Museum, Chelsea. London
Staged at The National Army Museum Chelsea, Faces of Battle was the culmination of four years research, design and production in response to the Gillies Archives and the lives of the facially injured servicemen treated by Sir Harold Gillies during World War 1.
The exhibition was the culmination of Paddy's Wellcome Trust funded 'Project Facade'. Curated and conceptualised by Paddy the exhibition realized by the exhibitions team at NAM Chelsea.
Throughout the project, the findings and development were regularly presented at public events, conferences, on TV, radio and in print media. The final presentation of the work was at the National Army Museum Chelsea. Championed by Head of Exhibits Curator Gillian Brewer, the museum exhibition team worked closely with Paddy to realise his vision for Faces of Battle; the exhibition that would tell the story of the plastic surgery unit at Sidcup and feature the 16 uniform sculptures Paddy made during the course of the project. The exhibition was opened by Changing Faces founder James Partridge and was attended by many descendants of the men who had contributed to the project. The work has since been exhibited in London, New York, Sydney and Germany and continues to feature in contemporary art publications. Uniform sculptures from the project are currently held in the permanent collections of The Museum of Art & Design New York, The Wellcome Collection London and The National Army Museum London. The Project Facade website has become an authoritative resource on the lives of the men treated by Gillies and is used by students, academics and researchers worldwide and has been permanently archived by The British Library.
The next phase: Project Facade WW1-100 is currently underway and will present new work throughout 2014-2018 to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of the Great War.
