The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Great War Museum's stitched prints bring forgotten WWI nurses back to memory
Handmade prints for the Musée de la Grande Guerre use bandage and thread — the nurses' own tools — to stitch a century of forgetting back together.
Musée de la Grande Guerre
What it had to solve
The Musée de la Grande Guerre was opening an exhibition about the nurses of World War I — tens of thousands of women who fought for their country yet were forgotten by history. The prints had to promote the show and honor that memory.
How it works
The Musée de la Grande Guerre opened an exhibition on the nurses of World War I — women who served in their tens of thousands and were then forgotten by history. To promote the show it released a series of handmade prints built from exclusive archive photographs.
The creative decision was to make the medium do the remembering: real bandage and thread are worked into each print, the tools the nurses themselves used. The images do not only honor the women; they aim to stitch their memory back together, and each one leads to the untold story of a nurse.
Because the materials are literal, the argument is visible at a glance: a century of forgetting is being mended with the instruments of care. The work is preserved in D&AD's awards archive under Press & Outdoor, which records no circulation or attendance figures — the case stands on the device itself.
Why it lands
- Bandage and thread are not decoration: they are the nurses' own tools, so each print performs the repair it promises.
- Exclusive archive photos tie the images to real women, keeping the tribute specific rather than abstract.
- Each print leads to one nurse's untold story, turning a poster into a doorway instead of a summary.
- The visible handmade quality refuses polished erasure — the stitches themselves carry the message.
What it did
The series gives a forgotten group a physical memorial in print form, preserved in D&AD's awards archive under Press & Outdoor; the archive records no circulation or attendance figures.
What you can take
Using the subject's own materials turns metaphor into method: bandage and thread do not illustrate caring, they perform the repair — the audience watches memory being stitched back together.
Since then
The prints were made to promote the museum's exhibition on the nurses of World War I and are preserved in D&AD's awards archive under Press & Outdoor; the entry records no circulation or attendance figures. The transferable move is the material metaphor: commemoration built from the tools of the people it honors.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card