Pop-up Photography Exhibition and Talk: Reminiscences – Veterans

To commemorate Armistice Day, The Wiener Library is pleased to host a pop-up exhibition of ongoing work by esteemed photographer, Mike Stone, titled Reminiscences: Veterans.

“Veterans”, which will be shown at the Library in partially completed form, arose from Stone’s contact with soldiers for Age UK. In the course of a long term project with Age UK looking at positive practice in dementia care, Mike came to find a great number of ex-servicemen living into extreme old age who retained acute memories. A strange juxtaposition occurred in one particular home where a former British tank Commander who had served with the 8th Army was living in the adjacent room to a gentleman who had come to Britain after the war as a refugee, and in conversation revealed that he had been forcibly conscripted into the Latvian SS.

Thinking about the wartime service of his own family members and his own Latvian great-grandfather led Stone to start this project, collecting interviews and portraits with British Jewish veterans. With initial support from AJEX, Stone has begun to reach out to surviving British Jewish veterans of World War II. To date, he has travelled the country from Glasgow to Littlehampton and completed twelve sets of interviews and portraits.

This event will include a talk by photographer Mike Stone, an opportunity to view the portraits and hear excerpts from some of the interviews, followed by light refreshments.