Henry Seaton Friday 17th Wednesday 29th September
Henry Seatons Homes Fit for Heroes is the work of architect and artist Rex Henry and sculptor Graham Seaton. The exhibition might be seen as a dream for a well ordered city or simply the re-functioned remnants of serial production - or does it hint at a lost history when failed promises of homes made to returning war weary troops sparked a revolt - a regiment of model homes occupying the gallery as the soldiers once occupied the town?
The exhibition is inspired by the 1919 Folkestone Mutinies, which sparked revolt through the army, that spread through the country. After years of fighting in the filthy bloodbath trenches of World War I, the troops had been promised that they would be returning to a land fit for heroes. Instead Winston Churchill (soon to become the Secretary of State for War) expected British soldiers to fight a new war against the newly formed Workers State in Russia.
On January 3rd 1919, 2 000 soldiers ordered to embark for service abroad at Folkestone refused and marched in perfect, unarmed formation to the Town Hall. They were promised a rapid programme of demobilisation but the next day orders arrived summoning them to embark. Again they refused and this time they marched to the Harbour. Incoming troops on their way to France swelled their ranks. 4 000 troops demonstrated at Dover. By Saturday 10 000 soldiers had marched through the town from the Harbour Station. Reportedly everywhere the townspeople showed their support.
Graham Seaton a finalist for the 2007 Jerwood Sculpture Prize, graduated in 2000 with a MA in site specific sculpture from Wimbledon School of Art. His work is concerned with transformations of space and materials, and pursues a long established interest in found objects
Rex Henry is an artist and maker, architect and urbanist, is interested in the urban insert and montage construction, the subject of a practice based Phd at the London Metropolitan University where he teaches. He is a founding partner of the interdisciplinary art and architecture practice architecture and
Homes Fit for Heroes runs until Wednesday 29th September, the gallery is at the top of the Folkestones Old High Street, CT20 1RL. It is open from 11am - 5pm, Monday to Saturday and admission is free.
This is my site The FG that I built in a fury of excitement when I first came here sometime in 2004. I'd been a frequent visitor for a while before that so I am technically one of those Down From Londons you get nowadays. The site was a lot more dynamic with a calendar of events and voting for best venues and things, and I know it was a useful reference for those who were moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only a couple of miles) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as The town is now becoming the exciting place we knew it was about to become. My name is not Gerald by the way, this comes from the name of a pretend paper in an episode of Brasseye or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local paper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are great aren't they? Do contact me if you have something to offer, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on Twitter.