Quinn: A Journey

14 February – 31 May 2020 | Lottie Davies

'Quinn' is the fictional story of a young man, William Henry Quinn, who walks from the south-west of England to the far north of Scotland in post-Second World War Britain.

This exhibition was a multi-dimensional experience created in response to the real experiences of young men and women post-trauma since the early twentieth century.

The artist, Lottie Davies invited visitors to follow Quinn, to walk alongside him and to get to know him.

We humans are often more alike than we think; we wake when it is light, we experience hunger, we eat, we drink, we move over the land by roads and pathways; we sleep.

We are all affected by love, joy, loss and grief in our lives, and only by chance might our own individual journeys differ from Quinn's.

The life changes imposed on each generation by conflict and global socio-economic collapse, as well as personal tragedies, produces a constant stream of people left untethered in the world.

The exhibition comprised video artworks, collated objects, an immersive installation including text from Quinn's diary, and large scale printed photographs.

Travelling in any way they can to find a new home, these people try to find renewed purpose and a place in the world. At this moment, there are millions of displaced people wandering our globe.

They are not so different from Quinn. Some alone, some with families, some with children, and some who have left family and friends in distant countries who perhaps they will not see again.

From Quinn's diary 28th March 1947: "…after that I don’t remember much until I was floating near the shore. The water was all on fire, it truly was an inferno; as close to hell as I can imagine."

From Quinn's diary 14th August 1947: "A day or so ago I came across a girl in a cotton dress picking bilberries…
She gave me a handful of heather - and I almost looked around to give it to you."

From Quinn's diary February 1948:
"I have gone back in my head many times to that conversation we had in the parlour, the three of us. You needed me to decide what was best, and I made the wrong choice."

From Quinn's diary 22nd March 1949: "Dearest Mary, I wish you could be here to share this place with me. It is almost magical."

The British landscape has changed in many ways since the 1940s, and yet the ancient byways Quinn and others have travelled along are often still as they were then.

Concrete or tarmac might be under our feet, but the earth is still there in all its chalky, sandy stoniness; the path is still there waiting to take us to the mountains or to where the tide comes in.

The artist worked with the museum's curator, Ali Wells to display genuine historical artefacts from the social history collection alongside items belonging to the fictional character.

Objects carry meaning - sometimes they are as significant as a child's first toy or a grandfather's watch, or as disposable as a paper plate.

Objects have power, some more than others - but each thing we make or earn, inherit or receive, can have importance.

Some objects are practical, some decorative, some symbolic.

The artist collected various items during the process of photographing and filming the works in the exhibition.

Some of these objects relate to the locations and landscapes where we see the character…

… others refer to what happened to Quinn and his family before he began his walking journey.

An object can give you knowledge or keep you safe. A key can become talisman, a shell a token, a book a reminder, a letter a diary, and a photograph could be the last time you see a face.

The artist created a 1940s boarding house room including clothing and items belonging to William Henry Quinn. His diary is on the bedside table; phrases from it are displayed on the opposite walls.

As Quinn leaves us and we leave him, we know that as time passes and change inevitably comes, lives and memories change and fade.
And that the path continues in front of us.