The Silent Village – Humphrey Jennings, Peter Finnemore, Rachel Trezise, Paolo Ventura

The Silent Village, curated by Russell Roberts (Reader in Photography at the European Centre for Photographic Research, Newport) explores the role of the photographic image and film in bearing witness to historical events and in particular, their role within an iconography of commemoration. In doing so, the exhibition and accompanying publication raise important issues around post-traumatic memory, documentary ethics and propaganda.

The destruction of the Czech village of Lidice in 1942 was a particularly brutal act of retribution by the Nazis following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by the Czech resistance. In total, 340 villagers were murdered, either by firing squads or later in concentration camps. Within a year of the massacre, artist, poet and filmmaker Humphrey Jennings had produced The Silent Village, a commemorative film set in the Upper Swansea Valley which was both a reconstruction of the Lidice atrocity and evocation of Welsh life in the early 1940s.

This new exhibition and publication feature contemporary artistic responses to the film by the artists Paolo Ventura and Peter Finnemore, and writer Rachel Trezise, which although markedly different in approach are equally concerned with memory and the visual culture of history. Their work seeks to shed new light on the tragedy and also on the resilience of the human spirit in such extreme circumstances.

The Silent Village accompanying publication comes in a slipcase that includes the main publication, with essays by curator Russell Roberts and film historian Dave Berry, and two artist books featuring Rachel Trezise and Peter Finnemore’s work. Publications are provided on a sale or return basis.

In early 2011 The Silent Village toured to Mostyn, Llandudno.

Download our PDF Touring Pack for more information about the work in the exhibition, artist biographies and technical specifications.

  • Content: Humphrey Jennings – single screen b/w video (36 min, with audio) Peter Finnemore – 16 framed b/w prints (91.5×71.5cm) & single screen looped video (5min, monitor provided) Rachel Trezise – audio recording (mp3 player/headphones provided) Paolo Ventura – 1
  • Space required: Approximately 75 – 120 linear metres and projection facilities or video monitor to screen the original The Silent Village film
  • Publicity: Press images and cuttings available on request
  • Hire fee: £2500 + VAT
  • Availability: The exhibition will be on show at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague January – April 2012

For further information, please contact:

David Drake
, Ffotogallery, 
c/o Chapter Arts Centre, 
Market Road, 
Canton, 
Cardiff, 
CF5 1QE

T: (029) 2034 1667
F: (029) 2034 1667
E: info [at] ffotogallery.org