A soundscape of Roger Fenton's photographs of the Crimean War (1854) set to 'Anthem' by Phillip Glass.
War always results from the interplay of power and once underway has massive momentum. Fenton was the first war photographer and captured the ships and munitions arriving, the encampments, the soldiers and cavalry of the allies (British, French and Ottoman (Turkish) as well as his iconic photograph 'The Valley of the Shadow of Death' below.
Fenton was there from March – June 1895. He took 360 photographs – all of them probably needed 20+ secs exposure.
The war was very unpopular with the British public & press and unlike 20th century war photographers Fenton's sponsor wanted no horrors of war - No combat scenes - No corpses - No scenes of the devastating effects of the war. There were almost 2 million soldiers involved and over 400,000 deaths – many from disease. It was the first of the modern wars.
This work is part of an exploration of how sound can augment visual images. Click here