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Elaine Mitchener - Les Murs sont témoins

Kate Astbury and Abigail Coppins' research was used as the basis for a sound installation by internationally renowned artist Elaine Mitchener MBE entitled |Les Murs sont témoins | These Walls Bear Witness| in 2019. Kate and Abigail wanted to explore how they could bring the stories of the Caribbean prisoners of war from the 1790s and the Napoleonic prisoners of war from the 1810s together. Elaine used the names of the Black prisoners of war held at Portchester Castle from the entry registers in the National Archives, extracts from a French prisoner-of-war play about the Revolution in Haiti, and the sounds of Portchester and the Caribbean to give visitors an opportunity to think about what the castle was like at the time the prisoners of war were held there. Elaine's sound installation and in particular its subversion of the French play was the starting point subsequently for a new project with the National Youth Theatre. Elaine was part of the R&D phase of that project.

A photo of Elaine Mitchener looking up at the model paper seagulls that form part of the Portchester exhibition and at the speakers that were hung in amongst them for her sound installation

A Warwick Arts Faculty at home video recorded by Kate Astbury about the project with the National Youth Theatre can be seen here: Film 26: Freedom and Revolution - YouTube

Elaine's own pages on the project are here:

| Les Murs Sont Témoins | These Walls Bear Witness | – Elaine Mitchener

An episode of the English Heritage podcast Speaking with Shadows was recorded at Portchester, including a short bonus recording (scroll to the bottom of the episode page) of Elaine Mitchener talking with Kate about the installation:Speaking with Shadows Podcast Series 1 Episode 2 | English Heritage

Kate and Abigail also wrote a blog article on the creative collaboration with Elaine Mitchener:

Les Murs Sont Témoins | "These Walls Bear Witness" at Portchester Castle | National Council on Public History

introductory panel in situ in the castle explaining the concept of the sound installation

The webpage created at the time of the exhibition with the background to its inspiration and conception can be found here:

Portchester Castle Sound installation