Dichotomies of Representation and Interpretation: A Pacifists's Story

Oral histories passed down through generations provide a glimpse into past lives, often conveying the character of individuals, the hardships they faced, and the impact of their beliefs and values on their families and communities. These personal stories often remain with the family and may never reach another audience in an oral, written, or visual form. At the centenary of World War One the hidden stories from these years deserve acknowledgement, particularly the experiences of those who rejected war and were marginalized within the mainstream narratives of this period.

This chapter provides new insights into the treatment of conscientious objectors in World War One by examining the experiences of John Edgar Bell, a Quaker and pacifist who was imprisoned for refusing to fight. Evidence from the National Archives, regional newspapers of the period, oral histories from John’s descendants, and extracts from his daughter’s diary, were assembled, forming an overview of the pacifist, his family, and the social exclusion they faced in the First World War and in the post-war years. The chapter then examines viewer perceptions of ‘The Ties That Bind’, a series of narrative textile panels based on John Edgar Bell’s story. These panels functioned as an act of individual remembrance and commemoration, and an exploration of how narrative textiles might function as mnemonic products. This allowed not only a visualization of John Edgar Bell’s story, but also examination of the relationship between authorial intention and viewer interpretation of the visual narrative. Focusing on viewers’ readings of individual images and narrative sequences, areas of collective cultural understanding on war, religion, family and loss, and the projection of personal memory on audiences’ construction of meaning from the work, are examined.