The Brickworks Museum in Bursledon has commissioned a film-based artist Grzegorz Stefański to create a new installation at the Museum opening in the summer of 2024.

Grzegorz Stefanski

The artwork will be based on the tales told to us by our local community, remembering the rebuilding of Southampton after the Second World War.  The installation will be part of Imperial War Museums’ IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, a national partnership programme of over 20 artist commissions inspired by the heritage of conflict.

‘What we are really interested in is how the City emerged from the rubble,’ says Mary Flinn, Collections Manager for the Museum. ‘There is a lot of research on the Blitz itself but little on the rebuilding of Southampton. We know that our brickworks produced bricks for the rebuilding and it has been fascinating to hear about how they were used to shape the City in the 1950s and 1960s. We cannot wait to see how Grzegorz brings those stories to life.’

The work will reflect on the aftermath of a period of conflict and how communities heal. The Museum has involved its own volunteers and members of the Southampton Living Well (Freemantle) Hub in the initial collecting of memories. They have also spent time recording testimonials with businesses that have a long history of working in Southampton, especially during the post-war period.

Artist Grzegorz won the commission saying, ‘We are living in times that do not offer much time to heal when historical traumas are constantly being triggered by contemporary conflicts. The Brickworks Museum commission is an opportunity for me to look into film-making as an activity that shapes and changes history, a process of remembering, forgetting and moving on.’

The selection of the artist was undertaken with the help of IWM and the Artist Training Programme of Art School Plus. Operating as both an alternative art school and a convener of unique art projects, Art School Plus is the bridge which connects artists with real-world public realm commissions to realise and imagine new ways in which art can exist in the world. His enrolment in the School was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Polish Cultural Institute.   There were eight potential candidates and the standard was very high. Grzegorz impressed the panel with his new ways of looking at the ideas raised.

Spill (2018) – Artwork by Grzegorz Stefanski