With Heart and Hand Exhibition and Collection

In spring 2021, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive commissioned six artists from Seacourt Print Workshop in Bangor to make a creative response to With Heart and Hand, a UTV programme made in 1966 to commemorate the Battle of the Somme. For the programme, UTV recorded interviews with veterans who recalled their experiences in that famous battle, and throughout WW1. The footage also captures poignant stories from the home front during that time.

During the project, the artists viewed and discussed the footage and shared their thoughts and ideas with each other and they drew inspiration from this process for their own work.

The partnership project has resulted in a series of prints, where each of the artists has interpreted the rich source material in their own unique way.

Artwork from the project was recently showcased as part of a commemoration event in the Basilica Notre-Dame de Brebières in Albert, France and DFA would like to thank Carol Walker from the Somme Association her support in sharing the work in such an atmospheric setting. 

An online session for PRONI’s Explore Your Archives week in November allowed the work to find a different audience as Director of Seacourt, Emma Drury and some of the project artists discussed their inspiration and creative process.

Now the project can be viewed in an online exhibition, With Heart and Hand, featuring work from all six artists:

Steph Harrison

Merve Jones

Joanne Fitzpatrick

Pen Jones

Elizabeth Donaldson

Rosy Ennis.

A new With Heart and Hand collection has also been launched, featuring the original footage that inspired this beautiful creative work. It is a powerful set of clips that uncover stories from WW1 veterans, with newsreel footage and other archive footage relating to The Great War.