Given the nature of our relationship with various people in the MoD and Cabinet Office, we could not simply walk away when the work was complete. It had to be wrapped up and signed off. David would be true to his word and show them his photographs. A meeting was arranged with all concerned, including a senior officer whom we had not met before. At one point he accused David of making `a terrorist’s guide to the facility’, and told him that he was `very lucky to have gained access’ and that if he applied now (post 7/7) he would be refused. It is hard for a civilian to understand the security mindset, with its obsessive need for obfuscation and doublethink, but it has to be respected. We had anticipated that the meeting would not be all plain sailing, but David took their insistence that every directional or descriptive sign and label in his photographs must be digitally altered to make it illegible with more equanimity than I did, wisely regarding censorship of this kind as an additional layer, something added to, rather than subtracted, from the document he had made. Had they objected to any of the images themselves, it would have been a different matter. Wrangling continued over the captions to the images for some weeks afterwards. There was to be no compromise on these; any form of linkage or association, such as the word `government’ for example, was firmly denied.

Whilst we were always happy to facilitate your access and assist as much as possible with your project, we (i.e. central Government) cannot accept any additional association with your publications or gallery work.

© Angela Weight 2008

• ‹ prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• next ›