• Cathy Wilkes artwork depicting a mannequin being shot
    Fred Pederson photography
    Blog

    Visual Thinking Strategies – A Review

    Jennifer Webster, Visitor Experience Assistant at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, 20 October 2025
    In 2024, The Hunterian worked in partnership with the Imperial War Museum 14–18 Now Legacy Fund to commission the artist Cathy Wilkes. The body of work, and exhibition, shed light on experiences of violence in conflict sometimes excluded from major narratives, and was influenced by Wilkes’ childhood in Northern Ireland.
  • Image of the 'Belongers' installation at Ffotogallery
    Credit Grace Springer for Ffotogallery 2023
    Blog

    Belongers: Exploring Chagossian Identity: An IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund commission with Ffotogallery, Cardiff

    Sian Addicott, 20 October 2025
    In February 2025, Ffotogallery, Cardiff, hosted Belongers — the first UK solo exhibition by Manchester-based Mauritian-Chagossian artist Audrey Albert, commissioned in partnership with the Imperial War Museum.
  • Image of the 'Broken Toe' film installation at The Box, Plymouth
    The Box
    Blog

    Broken Token, Paul Rooney: An IWM 14-18 Now Legacy Fund Commission at The Box

    By Tony Davey and Jodie Bishop, with Paul Rooney, 20 October 2025
    Broken Token, Paul Rooney, 2024. This two-screen film and sound piece by artist Paul Rooney explores the idea of home during times of conflict. The film combines veterans’ recollections of connecting with home during periods of service overseas.
  • Four embroidered panels featuring Second World War imagery
    North Kent Embroiderers
    Blog: Second World War

    We will remember them: commemorative embroidery

    Guest author: Veronica Rees, North Kent Embroiderers, 14 October 2025
    In this blog post, Veronica Rees from the North Kent Embroiderers shares details of a group project to commemorate VE Day and VJ Day.
  • A group of young people walking towards a war memorial
    Dr Paul Hamilton
    Blog: First World War

    Walking in Their Footsteps: Young People, Commemoration, and the Battlefield Experience

    Guest Author: Dr. Paul Hamilton, 25 April 2025
    Having led numerous battlefield tours as a former secondary school history teacher and university lecturer, Dr Paul Hamilton reflects on the question: What do young people experience when they visit the former battlefields of the First World War?
  • A white gallery featuring 6 photos on the wall
    IWM
    Blog

    Ad Astra: An IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund commission

    Guest Author: Eleanor Pulfer-Sharma, Director of Bentley Priory Museum, 25 April 2025
    Ad Astra is an exhibition of photographs at Bentley Priory Museum by Anastasia Taylor-Lind, exploring the diverse roles of women within the Royal Air Force (RAF) today. Meaning ‘to the stars’, Ad Astra takes its name from the RAF’s motto Per Ardua Ad Astra: ‘Through adversity to the stars’. In this blog post, Bentley Priory Museum Director Eleanor Pulfer-Sharma shares her reflections on working on this project.
  • A handdrawn map of Southampton, identifying areas for rebuilding
    IWM ((MOW) T 4691)
    Blog

    Bomb Scars to Building Sites: inspiration for our IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund commission

    Guest author: Brickworks Museum, 1 April 2025
    In 2024, artist Grzegorz Stefański created a new film called locusts - an IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund commission in partnership with the Brickworks Museum. In this blog post, the Brickworks Museum team tell us about the inspiration behind the film, the testimonies of local people who remembered the effects of the Second World War on Southampton.
  • Words Line Time alongside a drawing of a cog
    © Mayas Dirar
    Blog

    Line Time

    Guest authors: Freedom Women Collective, 6 March 2025
    In this post, we learn about a new project from the Freedom Women Collective - female artists who survived war, conflict and forced displacement, and resettled as refugees to Hull and East Yorkshire.
  • six young women standing in front of a historic building, featuring an image of a woman with open hands
    © Nerve Centre
    Blog

    Celebrating International Women’s Day: IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund

    Charlotte Pearce, Partnerships Manager, 4 March 2025
    This International Women’s Day, we are celebrating some of the inspirational women involved in the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund programme. With over 20 art commissions around the UK, the Legacy Fund represents a diverse range of perspectives on conflict, expressed through a rich variety of artforms.
  • Three brass instruments
    Unicorn Preservation Society
    Blog: First World War

    When the Brazen Bands Shall Play: A Reflection on Legacy and Community

    Guest Author: Matthew Moran, Executive Director, HMS Unicorn, 12 February 2025
    Commissioned as part of the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, When the Brazen Bands Shall Play is an eight movement musical work by UK composer Michael Betteridge. Performed by brass musicians and a narrator, it commemorates and celebrates HMS Unicorn’s role as a training ship in the First World War. Matthew Moran, Executive Director of HMS Unicorn, shares his reflections on this project.
  • Black and white photo of around 50 women and children
    From the family collection of Lee Karen Stow
    Blog

    Visual Traces

    Guest author: Dr Lee Karen Stow, Visual Artist & Researcher, 31 January 2025
    In her final blog post, Dr Lee Karen Stow continues the story of her grandmother, Olive May Jordan (nee Bertholini). It forms part of Lee's work Visual Traces, a visual narrative exploring the wartime experiences of civilian, working-class women in her family and birthplace of Hull through the traces they left behind.
  • Women factory workers sitting at benches
    Courtesy of Reckitt Heritage Archive, Hull
    Blog: First World War

    The Canister Girls

    Guest author: Dr Lee Karen Stow, Visual Artist & Researcher, 6 January 2025
    Dr Lee Karen Stow continues the story of her late-grandmother, Olive May Bertholini, through traces left behind. In this third blog post, Lee shares how a canister of Brasso and inky scrawls on a Census, helped her to uncover more of Olive May's life during the First World War.

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