Florence Mellor from Kirkaldy, Fife, worked as a volunteer nurse treating wounded troops at Edenfield Auxiliary Hospital, Cupar, and then shell-shocked Officers at Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh.
During this time, Nurse Mellor collected sketches, jokes and poetry penned by the soldiers she cared for.
It was believed the patients would get better if they were engaged in ‘meaningful’ and structured activities such as handiwork and other creative tasks. The importance of humour and laughter had long been recognised as a powerful way of counteracting, or masking, the disturbing anxieties and chaos of war – both behind the lines and on the home front.
Artist’s Response
I drew out an image of Nurse mellor on lino holding a paint brush and printed her in black ink. I was trying to achieve a war poster look and wanted to keep a limited colour palette.
I wanted the Red Cross to be a big feature in the print so I screen printed a cross on to an off white paper and then I screen printed a white background for Nurse Mellor so she wouldn’t have a red face and apron and then used my lino print to make a screen and screen printed the outline of Nurse Mellor on the top of the cross.
Rachel Storrier
Dundee and Angus College
Rachel Storrier has always had an interest in art since she was four and making stories come to life through painting and drawing. Rachel also likes to create art based on her own personal journeys and feels that having a print in a national Scottish building is an amazing achievement for her. Rachel loves history and Scottish communities and feels a strong connection to this project.
