The moment an ersatz striker shouted, “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!” I felt compelled to roar along with the rest, “Out, out, out!” and memories swept through me, The 1980s. That horrible woman. There was a revolting whiff of her as the mounted policemen galloped at the fleeing miners, truncheons raised. From then until the end, when the actors took a deserved curtain call and the Maltby Miners Welfare Brass Band marched down the road, trailing an NUM banner, my eyes were filled with tears. – Arthur Smith, The Guardian, 21 June 2001.
The violent confrontation between police and miners outside the coking plant at Orgreave in South Yorkshire was one of the crucial episodes in the 1984 Miners' Strike. Made 17 years later in the same village, The Battle of Orgreave centres on a reenactment of the brutal confrontation made with the participation of many relatives of former miners as well as re-enactment specialists. Mike Figgis's film of Jeremy Deller's reenactment, originally shown on Channel 4, combines footage of the day’s event with interviews with several key protagonists. Mac McLoughlin, a former miner and serving policeman on the field in 1984, reveals details about the buildup within the police force prior to the stand-off; David Douglass (NUM) talks about the meaning of the confrontation in relation to the trade union movement; Stephanie Gregory (Womens' Support Group) reminisces about the effects on family life; and Tony Benn talks about the media's role in covering up the truth about the strike in 1984. The film is accompanied by Deller's rich archive of research materials in a work entitled The Battle of Orgreave Archive (An Injury to One is an Injury to All).
Image: Jeremy Deller, The Battle of Orgreave, 2001. Production photograph: Martin Jenkinson
at Tate Britain
London, 9 June - 13 September 2015
The Battle of Orgreave Archive (An Injury to One is an Injury to All) was included in Tate Britain's 'Fighting History' exhibition. The exhibition explored how artists have reacted to key historic events, and how they capture and interpret the past. Often vast in scale, history paintings engage with narratives from scripture or from current affairs. Some scenes protest against state oppression, while others move the viewer with heroic acts, tragic deaths and the plights of individuals swept up in events beyond their control. The exhibition showed how contemporary artists, including Jeremy Deller, have continued to engage with the traditions of history painting to confront modern-day tragedies and dilemmas.
Image: Installation view of Jeremy Deller, The Battle of Orgreave Archive (An Injury to One is an Injury to All), 2001 (detail) at Tate Britain, 2015. Photograph: © Tate, Tate Photography, London, 2015
at Modern Art Oxford
27 March - 17 May 2015
The film by Mike Figgis and Jeremy Deller was shown in Modern Art Oxford's exhibition 'Test Run: Performance in Public'. Using film and documentary material, discussion and interactive sessions, 'Test Run' examined the disruption of ‘normal behaviour’ in public spaces and how expectations of public behaviour can be exploited.
Image: Installation view of Jeremy Deller and Mike Figgis, Battle of Orgreave, 2001 (detail) at Modern Art Oxford in 2015. Courtesy: Modern Art Oxford.
at John Hansard Gallery
Southampton, 8 - 20 January 2013
Mike Figgis and Jeremy Deller's film of the Battle of Orgreave was presented at John Hansard Gallery in Southampton. The exhibition, the 'Agency of Truth', presented films from 1920s Russia to the present day which take a documentary approach to the portrayal of conflict, and explore alternative histories to the the mass media driven narrative.
Image: Installation view of Jeremy Deller and Mike Figgis, Battle of Orgreave, 2001 (detail) at John Hansard Gallery in 2013. Courtesy: John Hansard Gallery.