'Lost Airfields' : One of a series of satellite photos of the airfields my father flew from 1943 to 1946

This project resulted from being invited to participate in the 'Perduto Padre' exhibition at the C.A.V.E. project space in Sistiana, Trieste, Italy during June 2011.

My interpretation of this theme was to use the flight log books of my father, Alfred, during his time in the R.A.F. from 1943 to 1946. This research material was interesting as it factually traced his flying career from his early training on bi-planes to one of the most advanced aircraft of the time, the Spitfire MK9.

Pages from the book I made were pinned up around the wall of the lower floor. The book itself you can see as a 'flip-book' here:

 

PDF of the catalogue of 'Lost Airfields'. (low-res PDF in spreads)

 

More Images : (click to enlarge)

The display looking right.

 

The display looking left.

 

Fabiola Faidiga originated and curated the exhibition and her proposal for the project was as folows :

"The theme Perduto Padre/Lost Father stems from my experience of own Father’s death, and as an elaboration of the Spiritual and Material heritage he endowed me with. Perduto padre / Lost Father can be experienced as a cathartic, intimate and very personal moment, but it can also be elaborated into more universal and archetypal terms. The father figure and his loss can be interpreted in various terms: psychoanalytical, philosophical, literary, social, political…

I found particularly interesting Massimo Recalcati's book 'Remains of my Father', as regards the fatherly dimension, its loss and its possible retrieval from social and individual imagination and awareness."

Fabiola went on to re-curate this exhibition at the Museum Of Modern Art Ugo Carà in Muggia, Trieste in 2015

 

 

The display at the vernissage. Paul explaining the installation to the curator of Gruppo 78, Maria Campitelli.