The practice of painting naval ships with disruptive pattern camouflage, known as Dazzle, was initially used almost 100 years ago in the First World War. Ships were painted in bold coloured abstract shapes and patterns, with areas of dark and light tones placed next to each other to break up the outline and shape of the ship when it is viewed from a distance.
Schwenk and Zahalka propose to contemporise this naval history of camouflaging by creating a work of art made from human bodies.
A side view of a naval ship covered in Dazzle camouflage will be created on Middle Head Oval, Sydney, with military personnel and civilians lying down side by side.
This socially engaged work of performance art will be filmed and photographed from a Navy helicopter and the ground to capture this historic event in all its nuances to be re-produced as finished artworks.
