Shot at Dawn is a body of work by the British photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews that focuses on the sites at which soldiers from the British, French and Belgian armies were executed for cowardice and desertion during the First World War. The project is comprised of images taken in twenty-three locations in which soldiers were shot or held for a period leading up to their execution and each photograph has been taken as close as possible to the actual and precise time of day at which the executions occurred. An edited selection of these images will be on show at IMMA.
Shot at Dawn premiered at Tate Modern in London and Stills: Scotland’s Centre for Photography in Edinburgh in November 2014. Following the showing at IMMA the exhibition will travel to Ivorypress in Madrid in 2016.
Shot at Dawn is commissioned by the Ruskin School of Art at the University of Oxford as part of 14-18 NOW, WW1 Centenary Art Commissions. Sponsored by Genesis Imaging and supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund and by the British Council, Government of Flanders, John Fell OUP Research Fund and Van Houten Fund. This exhibition is part of a series of New Art at IMMA proudly sponsored by Matheson.
This exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated book, published by Ivorypress, which provides a complete visual record of the commission alongside a critical analysis of the work by the celebrated writer Geoff Dyer and expert contextual essays on cowardice, desertion and psychological trauma brought on by military service by the acclaimed historians Sir Hew Strachan and Dr Helen McCartney.
About Chloe Dewe Mathews:
Chloe Dewe Mathews (b. 1982) is an award-winning photographer based in London.
After studying fine art at Camberwell College of Arts and the University of Oxford, she worked in the feature film industry before dedicating herself to photography.
Her work is internationally recognized, with solo exhibitions at the Tate Modern and the Irish Museum of Modern Art and editorial features in the Guardian, Sunday Times and Le Monde. Her work is held in public and private collections, such as the British Council Art Collection and The National Library of Wales. Chloe’s first monograph, Shot at Dawn, was published by Ivorypress in 2014.
Her awards include the British Journal of Photography International Photography Award, the Julia Margaret Cameron New Talent Award and the Flash Forward Emerging Photographer’s Award. Her nominations include the Prix Pictet, the London Photography Award the MACK First Book Award.
Chloe is currently the Robert Gardner Fellow in Photography at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
Chloe Dewe Mathews ‘Shot at Dawn’ at IMMA
7 October 2015 – 7 February 2016
IMMA: Irish Museum of Modern Art,
Royal Hospital Kilmainham,
Military Rd,
Kilmainham,
Dublin 8,
Ireland.
Find out more about Shot at Dawn at IMMA
Visit Chloe Dewe Mathews’ Website
Find out more about Shot at Dawn