Self Guided Graphics Propmaking
Lockdown Project
Lockdown Project
During the Covid-19 lockdown I set myself a personal graphic design project. I was inspired to learn the stories of three men in my family who served during WWII; Private Ronald Jepp, Cpl Terrence Jepp, and Sergeant Alfred G. R. Cowdrey. My graphics project aimed to reflect their stories through designing and recreating ephemera and objects that they may have carried on their person.
I created accurate recreations of official government documents including the Ration Book, National Registration ID Card and the Soldier's Service & Pay Book. I also created my own designs for fictional chocolates, cigarettes, a theatre programme and a newspaper. Themes of Portsmouth are woven throughout, as all three men were born and lived in the city.
Ronald Jepp enlisted in the Hampshire Regiment and was posted to 3 Section, Medium Machine Gun Platoon, 9th Battalion Parachute Regiment. His brother Terrence Jepp was part of the Royal Army Medical Corp. On the 6th of June 1944, they both took part in Operation Overlord; also known as D-Day. Ronald was sadly killed in action on 12th June 1944 by an enemy tank - he was only 20 years old. Terry was tasked with setting up a First Aid Post at the Merville Battery, but when landing in France he encountered a Nazi patrol, who took him prisoner. Thankfully he escaped and managed to return to his family in England. Sergeant Alfred G. R. Cowdrey served with the Royal Air Force in the 115th Squadron. He departed RAF Witchford on 16 December 1943 in a Lancaster Bomber, on a bombing raid mission on Berlin. The aircraft crashed in Heemskerk, and all crew members sadly lost their lives.
I finished this project with a sense of pride and gratitude for Ronald, Terry and Alfred, who made unimaginable sacrifices at a crucial point in history that I can scarcely imagine. It seems such a distant time to me, yet these objects helped me to bridge the gap and place myself ever so briefly in their shoes, and imagine what life was like for them not just in war, but in their day-to-day life. I certainly cherish these men and their stories as part of my family history.
