Scotland now has its own Dazzle Ship, berthed in the Prince of Wales dock in the port of Leith. The inspiration for this particular vessel’s design comes from artist Ciara Phillips, who was co-commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival and 14-18 Now. A BBC news story describes the work.

Phillips’s work is entitled “every woman” and celebrates the roles played by women during the war; for example, as painters in the shipyards implementing dazzle designs on warships.

Edinburgh Art Festival staff are developing a Learning programme to engage children and young people with the ideas behind the project and encourage visits to the ship. This includes an introductory guide for teachers, and teacher workshops; a Family “Dazzle Day Out” will take on Sunday 19th June 2016 from 1300-1600. Further activities will follow over the summer. During the Festival there will also be a Dazzle Hub in a shop unit at Ocean Terminal shopping centre. Contact the EAF team for more details.

Financial support for this project was provided by 14-18 Now, the UK-wide cultural programme which marks the centenaries of World War One with a series of artistic and cultural projects specially commissioned to engage the public and create an artistic legacy.  The Tower of London poppies are the best-known of previous projects, with a range of other successful projects and more work still in process and to be commissioned.

The original Dazzle concept was a response by artist Norman Wilkinson to World War One submarine warfare in the Atlantic and the threat to British shipping. Ships which were repainted in dazzle designs were thought to confuse the German U-boat submariners trying to target ships for torpedo attack. A BBC iWonder resource “How did an artist help Britain fight the war at sea” describes this work.