Breaking the Chain
Historic Dockyard Chatham
8 June – 3 September 2017

A project with Simon Leach Design
Part of the 350th anniversary of the Battle of Medway
Interpretation by Historic Dockyard Chatham
Photography by Philip Durrant

This exhibition was part of a series of events along the river Medway in Kent in 2017 marking the 350th anniversary of the ‘Dutch Raid’ of 1667, considered one of the worst naval defeats in British history. We worked alongside Simon Leach Design to plan and create the overall exhibition design, and with the curatorial team at the Historic Dockyard to set the painting hang and construct narrative principles.

The exhibition is divided into three chapters, each opening with a large painting positioned as a single object on a freestanding coloured wall. Walls and displaycases are set out at an angle to the rectilinear space creating a dynamic environment that reflects the tensions leading to battle. The story is told through Dutch and British contemporary art, literature, historic manuscripts and extraordinary objects, on loan from collections at The Royal Museums Greenwich, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Dutch National Maritime Museum, the Michiel de Ruyter Foundation and the British Library.