Ben Grace was commissioned to document The Shepherd’s Whistle, an exhibition by artist Stefan Gec commissioned by John Hansard Gallery in partnership with Locus+.
The project explores the connections between Cold War history, migration, identity and surveillance through two striking elements: a 1957 Soviet M-72 army motorbike and sidecar, and a collection of top-secret Soviet military maps of strategically important British towns and cities.
Using the maps to navigate and riding the M-72, Gec undertook a series of journeys from his hometown of Huddersfield to five locations identified by Soviet intelligence as having strategic importance: Greenock, Derry-Londonderry, Blyth, Barrow-in-Furness and Southampton. The journeys reflected Gec’s own family history, with his father among the Ukrainian displaced people who settled in the Huddersfield area following the Second World War.
The journeys were documented on 8mm film using Soviet cine cameras from the same era as the motorbike and maps. The resulting footage was presented alongside newly created sculptures and text works, the original Soviet maps and the painstakingly restored M-72, creating an exhibition that connected personal history with the wider political and social landscape of the Cold War.
Ben’s photography captured the exhibition installation and its individual works, documenting the relationship between Gec’s films, archival materials, sculpture, maps and the imposing Soviet motorbike within the gallery space.
Through community filmmaking charity City Eye, we were commissioned to photograph this exhibition.
Find out more about City Eye here