As part of this project digital artist Helen Marshall of The People’s Picture will be creating a photo mosaic made up of 1,000+ photos of Upper Dales schools/youth from the dawn of photography to the present day. These images will come together to form a whole new image – to be discovered along the way. Her artwork will be revealed at Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes, when the exhibition opens in early 2021.
We picked Helen up from a windswept Garsdale Station on a damp Dales day and whisked her off for a site visit at Dales Countryside Museum. We met with Museum Manager Fiona Rosher and explored the exhibition space, brainstormed display options and learnt more about The People’s Picture over a power coffee at Firebox Café.
Helen Marshall is an expert in visual storytelling and has undertaken some fascinating commissions, including ‘The Face of Suffrage’ - a floor-based, 200 metre-square photo mosaic at Birmingham New Street station made up of more than 3,700 photos of women & girls from the West Midlands and beyond, and ‘The People’s Moon’, a global project that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing containing NASA & public photos.
The Story of Schools will be her first rural commission. It’s exciting to imagine the faces and photos that will emerge – what will be unearthed, what and who will surface?