Neon, acrylic, metal, 2005, 180 x 250 x 20cm

Temporary installation, Seething Airfield, Norfolk

During World War 2 the use of photoreconnaissance work to aid operations was used on a previously unprecedented scale. This resulted in the employment of camouflage and decoy techniques by all sides.  The detection of targets (and non-targets) required the painstaking study of aerial photographs.  As the war progressed the efforts to disguise equipment, or make sufficiently realistic replicas to fool the opposition and protect vital sites, became increasingly creative in strategies of bluff and double bluff. Fictional landscapes were created to make what was present disappear and what was not present appear real. You’re Safe At Home is a simplified form taken from 1945 photographs of radio antennas disguised as trees. This neon work draws attention to the airfield and its runway layout, leaving open the question of its role as a decoy or valid apparatus. The title of this work is the name of one of the B24 Liberator aircraft (42-94828) that flew from Seething Airfield.

www.air-field.co.uk