My Dearest Beatrice: A Continuation

This ongoing project revisits the 4,000 photographic slides which provided an invaluable resource for artwork in 'My Dearest Beatrice'. Bletchley Park remains a building of immense historical note. Housing the secretive machinery deployed in the infamous code-breaking technique of the Second World War, it has long held fascination for historians and artists alike. Secrecy demanded the destruction of almost all of their records at the end of the war and the site is now a museum that relies on voluntarily gathered information on the individuals who worked inside these enigmatic walls. A house clearing took place in 2015 unearthing of thousands of photographic slides. These slides documented trips taken around Europe between the 1950s and the 1980s by two individuals. As well as this discovery were a host of artefacts, including letters written during the 1940s and 1950s that unlocked an intimate photographic narrative. My Dearest Beatrice examines a tale of deep love and devotion of two people who met at the height of the war. The process unearthed over 300 of the 4,000 enigmatic slides documenting the artist’s Great Aunt and wife of the original photographer gazing into distant landscapes. Alongside intimate letters detailing the couple’s time at Bletchley Park, the work seeks both to reveal and maintain confidences, honouring and preserving a delicate love story. They had secrets to keep for years; those secrets remain.