Freemasons – Victoria Cross Event and Exhibition
Celebrating the Freemason Soldiers who fought in WW1
/ CONCEPTING / ART DIRECTION / GRAPHIC DESIGN /
As part of its 300-year celebrations, the United Grand Lodge of England was unveiling the memorial stones honouring each of the 64 Freemasons awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War. The challenge was to create an event that told the story of these brave men through an exhibition and a range of event collateral.
From, bronze-foiled invitations that took the VC itself as inspiration, to a full commemorative programme and an almost 15-feet-long timeline that placed each person honoured in the context of the war as a whole, the event ensured that this was a sensitive celebration of the human spirit.
To provide a sense of these heroes as men, 64 wooden figures were created. These life-size soldiers – each representing one man being honoured – became the focal point of the event.
With the Duke of Kent in attendance, the event Unveiling Ceremony was featured on BBC news, and covered extensively across media channels. The wooden figures received particular attention, with the families of those being honoured being surprisingly moved to be ‘in the presence of’ relatives they had just distant memories of, or had only ever heard about.