‘The Fallen’ is a  video and sculptural installation by Jon England, who’s multi-disciplinary practice centres around the contemporary legacies of historic conflict and industry.

Spiralling into the derelict remains of the World War Two Parachute Store at Westonzoyland Airfield, the propellor forms of  sycamore seeds become surrogates for aircraft and airmen, once dispersed into the night sky.

Breaking into the building’s cathedral-like structure, the tree from which they fall acts as a marker of time since the momentous events played out here – the hostile concrete slab below, emblematic of the broader territories of conflict, whilst echoing the allegorical ‘rocky ground’ of the Bible’s ‘Parable of the Sower’, where young seedlings perish in shallow soil (Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23).

Falling in ceaseless repetition, once virile green specimens, deprived of their evolutionary imperative to disperse, descend straight to earth. Their accumulating pyre of charred, lifeless carcases – embellished with tarnished gold insignia – attests to both the aggrandisement of militarism and mankind’s seemingly endless cycles of self-destruction.

 jonenglandartist.com 

VENUE: GALLERY 333, EXETER PHOENIX

An intimate window gallery for micro-installations and sculptural interventions.