Mathew Keller

Wednesday, 4th November, 2009

Re-Enactors Take on the World Wars

Loving Jim Naughten’s new collection of photos; “The Re-enactors”, currently on display at the Hot Shoe Gallery in London until December 4th, 2009.

The collection is a series of individual portraits and huge battle-scenes depicting a group of history-obsessed men and women who gather annually to transform themselves into characters from the First and Second World Wars:
“Every summer thousands of people from all over the world gather in a Kentish field and leave the present firmly behind. They step out of their routine daily lives and transform into historical characters from the First and Second World Wars, often with such vigour and obsessive attention to detail that it’s hard to imagine them in contemporary settings. Taking on a different name, identity and sometimes even a different tongue, the role players re-enact battles and drills from an imagined past. It is something more than acting, a collective fantasy played out on a massive scale.”

To create the shots Naughten attended many of the countries large scale re-enactment shows, such as the War and Peace show in Kent, with a portable studio. For the group and battle shots he created composites from crane mounted cameras and location shots. I really love the posing and detail in these photos especially the way he does group shots… makes everyone look like toy soldiers.

From Time Magazine