9 Dec 99

Dundee students bring touch of home to Falkland servicemen

Seven Dundee University art students returned this week from the trip of a lifetime to the Falkland Islands where they have been helping the Ministry of Defence to make life for the servicemen a bit more like home. The seven, accompanied by five lecturers all from Duncan of Jordanstone College, have spent the last two weeks brightening up the barracks at Mount Pleasant Airfield where around 1,500 soldiers, sailors and aircrew are stationed for months at a time.

But in between completing and hanging their work, the students have occasionally downed their brushes to taste a range of thrilling experiences including flying in a Hercules, riding Gaucho style, shooting guns, driving all terrain vehicles, and penguin spotting. The social life has been hectic too with parties every night and invitations to dine with the Governor of the islands, with the Commander of the British Forces Falkland Islands, in the officers' mess and even an evening on board one of the Navy's leading warships, HMS Somerset.

'It's been absolutely fantastic. We've done things we would never have dreamed of,' said third year design student Lee Bissett from Aviemore.

The team were invited by the Commander of the British Forces Falkland Islands Brigadier David Nicholls to transform one of the longest and grimmest corridors in the world, known as the Death Star Corridor, into a more pleasant environment. 'Basically we want to make the place a bit less like an institution and a bit more like home for the people living and working here,' he explained.

Led by senior lecturer Elaine Shemilt, the artists have improved the general atmosphere of the labyrinthine corridor which runs for over half a mile, joining the rambling accommodation and leisure blocks together. With the help of graphic design lecturer Andy Rice and head of interior design Roland Ashcroft, they have introduced maps with colour coding and signage so those stationed there can find their way about in the confusing environment. They have improved the lighting, but perhaps the most dramatic change introduced to this alien military environment has been the incorporation of eight exhibition areas along the way.

The students teamed up to create four original artworks designed specially to suit the audience exiled 8,000 miles from home. Particularly striking is a huge collage by Lee Bissett and Judith Douglas showing some 2,000 black poppies arranged to create the sensation of a huge vortex.

Judith explained: 'We felt the poppies had a special significance to service people stationed here. By hanging this at the end of the corridor we hoped to give the impression of walking into a tunnel.'

Jamie Harris from Glasgow concentrated on the theme of Home for his colourful painting showing a typical family lounge complete with sofa and reflective telly.

Laura Youngson Coll from Sheffield and Palestinian student Leena Naammari from Dundee chose the tripartite nature of the islands for their theme. Laura: 'We wanted to bring together something representing all the three services here - army, navy and airforce and we've done that by relating it to the landscape - air, sea and land. The bottom part of the work is based on an ordnance survey map so hopefully people will be able to recognise some familiar place names.'

Stewart Spence from Newport teamed up with Stephen Jewell from Greenock to create a clever graphics board on the theme "Inertia", combining the graphics introduced in the new corridor signage with familiar symbols of young life UK-style - CDs, the BBC test card and so on.

The reaction of the servicemen has been positive. Some admit they didn't know what to expect. Captain Keith Angus's reaction was typical: "I think I had made my mind up straight away I wasn't going to really enjoy it. When I saw the carpenters putting the art up my opinion was I don't really like this modern art. However over the days of walking past there's a few pieces I've looked at in particular and after a couple of days I've thought I wouldn't mind owning that but I wouldn't pay for it. My feelings now have gone to the stage that I would pay for it and I'd like to have it. In fact I'll probably buy one or two before I go home."

Said Stewart: "A lot of the soldiers come past ribbing us and making comments - it's been very good humoured and quite a laugh." Certainly the soldiers liked it enough to ask for more. Members of the King's Own Scottish Borderers taking over a bar which had been used by Gurkhas asked their Dundee visitors to convert the Himalayan Mountain scene on the wall into something a bit more Scottish - with the Loch Ness Monster and the Forth Bridge.

Of particular poignancy to the servicemen is an exhibition now displayed within the corridor of graffiti - or naïve art - painted by soldiers during the Falklands War. The patriotic images on the walls of what was used as a hospital at Ajax Bay were recently rediscovered on a previous trip to the islands by the Dundee lecturers. Struck by the murals' historical and social significance, they suggested the work should be preserved and exhibited in the corridor. The Brigadier agreed and a long and difficult process began, cutting the chunks of wall out, carefully shipping them to Mount Pleasant and mounting them on tailor made exhibition stands before framing and covering them with perspex.

Andy Rice; "To get them here was quite a challenge. The walls were a cement surface and cork base which made the removal a bit easier but effectively they had to go in with band saws and cutting equipment. Some were too large to move without breaking up and had to be cut into sections. They were actually crated and slung under a Chinook and airlifted back to the base."

The project is the latest phase in an unusual collaboration between the University and the MOD which both parties are keen to develop. Already it has led to a link being established with the Governor of the Islands His Excellency Donald Lamont who visited Dundee recently, and with the Shackleton Trust who organise a programme of cultural and educational events for the islanders to which the Dundee lecturers are contributing. On their most recent trip sculptor Gary Fisher gave a lecture to islanders in Port Stanley. Interest has also been sparked in the distance learning course on Modern Scottish History run by the University of Dundee in conjunction with the Open University. The course materials presented to the education centre at the Mount Pleasant base were expected to prove a hit with those living and working far from the distractions of UK life in what must be one of the most remote places in the world.

Stewart summed up the students' experience: "It's been really good to mix with these guys over the two weeks. It's given us an idea of what they're about and it's shown them that we art students are real people. That's got to be good for both sides."