Digital War Memorial: Brent Remembers
The Digital War Memorial is a national project led by the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL). The first phase brought together a wide range of communities to work with high quality artists to create unique response to the First World War Centenary. Using the rich resources of local libraries and archives as the starting point, the new artworks tell diverse stories of how the First World War touched people’s lives and how it is remembered today. From 2014 to 2018 it is hoped that new projects will be added from councils across the whole country that will culminate into a truly national memorial. Brent Remembers is the London Borough of Brent’s contribution to the SCL Digital War Memorial Project. Brent Libraries, Arts and Heritage have brought together residents with poets Malika Booker and Nick Makoha, actor Andy Daniel and heritage professional Jo Sunderland-Bowe for creative sessions commemorating the First World War. We have worked closely with the Somali Advice and Forum of Information, Lyon Park Junior School (Year 5 pupils), Queens Park Community School (Year 11 pupils) and our wider community to develop and share an understanding of the local and global impact of war.
Using local stories, images from the archives and objects from the museum as inspiration, a variety of poems and dramatic performances have been created, which have provided the starting point for deeper engagement and artist interpretation. Film-maker Stephen Rudder has woven together these poems, stories and responses with images of the local area to build a narrative of Brent’s remembrance. We hope you enjoy the film and come along to our First World War exhibition Brent Remembers: Five Lives at Brent Civic Centre until the end of March 2015 to find out more about how the war affected people connected to Brent.
For further information please visit these websites:
http://www.brent.gov.uk/firstworldwar
brentmuseumandarchives
Colin C.
Emir Ghariani