Jim Pavlidis

Jim Pavlidis's project involves the creation of a book with etchings based on diary entries written by Winifred Noble in 1914.

Winifred's diary, Accounts of my dancing evenings – season 1914, is one of a collection of 39 written by her that were found in a rubbish skip in Kew in 1989. This diary is different from the others, as it refers solely to a course of weekly dancing lessons attended by the author from April to October 1914. Her 23 diary entries form an engaging narrative.

From the first entry we learn of Winifred's longing to be noticed by, and dance with, a particular man in the class who also travelled home from class on the same train as her. Throughout the diary, Winifred's emotions vary between hope, defiance and disappointment.

The relative innocence of the story is made all the more poignant by the time in which it was written – the start of World War I.