Playgrounds of War, deal with the monumental and emotional detritus of abandoned military bases, drawing upon Gina's own childhood memories and her personal sense of vulnerability in the face of threatened military force. 'Playgrounds of War' presents the aesthetics of past wars, avoided wars and possible wars.
As a child in the English Midlands in the 1950's Glover travelled by pony and trap to a deserted former secret WWII airbase, converted to a nuclear missile base in the 1960s. Three decades later she began photographing this site. Since beginning the project, Glover has travelled to collapsing bunkers along the Moray Firth and a secret underground bunker in the heart of Edinburgh and also explored missile targets in the Baltic States and in Germany. In accompanying her on her travels we begin to comprehend not only the massive destructive potential of these places and how they have succumbed to the rejuvenating corrosion of time, weather and nature.
Playgrounds of War illustrates Glover's changing photographic practice over more than two decades. These photographs range from harsh black and white toned pictures taken in the 1980's, some depicting a small child lost against foreboding concrete structures, to surreal-like colour pinhole photographs. In these, using long exposures and layered light, a clouded sky has the seeming capacity to dislodge massive concrete monuments. Glover's scanograms bring to the viewer amateur efforts in the archaeology of such places, presenting bits of bomber aircraft, war kit, shells, bottles, images and objects. These represent local enthusiasts' preoccupation with the memorabilia of war alongside Glover's own taxonomic arrangements and aesthetic and moral concerns.
Exhibitions
2010 - Street level gallery in Glasgow
2011 - Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
2009 - Photo Biennale Guangdong Museum of Art, China
