Conflict of Interest
Sanjeev Baskar on Dreams and Nightmares
Published: 7 February 2025 at 04:30 Europe/London
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Episode notes
How do we begin to understand how civilians felt in a time of war? We often look to diaries and poetry - but today we look to the surrealist artists that sought to make sense of the most extreme times imaginable.
Actor Sanjeev Baskar is taken on a specially curated tour of the Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Gallery by Iris Vasey - to discover history's most private thoughts as their society descends into war.
Joining them both is an expert in the psychological impact of warfare; from the First World War right up to today's drone wars, Dr Beryl Pong.
Objects discussed:
Beatrice Viola Fergusson, 'Snapshots' sketchbook, 1938
Keith Vaughan, Echo of the Bombardment, 1942
Julien Trevelyan, Premonitions of the Blitz, 1940
Edward Burra, Blue Baby: Blitz Over Britain, 1941
Chisty, By the Moonlight, 2013
Narrator: James Taylor. Producer: Matt Hill at Rethink Audio, with support from Eleanor Head, Daniel BenChorin, and the IWM Institute team at Imperial War Museums
