Barbara Freeman
Collaboration with Carole Nelson.
I lost my grandfather in the First World War and my father in the second. My earliest memories are of the city of London burning during the Blitz ,most houses on fire or fallen to rubble, and then being evacuated to the country with my brother. Carole's father fought in the Second World War and he came home. We are the last generation to have direct palpable experiences and memories of that particular time. After us the experience belongs to history: but there is a special time in between when we can connect those experiences to the distant past and project them into the future to create a poetic space that anyone can share.
We explore the lives of women during times of disaster. I was always behind the camera or in the editing room. Carole spoke the words of Homer and read aloud letters to love ones separated by wars created and played the music and sometimes acted. Our ideas grew and changed through conversation, experimentation and serendipity.