The Rehearsal of History

The Rehearsal of History is a portrait series exploring the people and communities who preserve and interpret the past through historical reenactment. Rather than focusing on staged battles or spectacle, the project centres on the individuals who dedicate their time to researching, making, and inhabiting history as a means of public education.

Historical reenactment creates opportunities for knowledge to be shared through lived experience. By recreating clothing, equipment, crafts, and everyday life with care and attention to detail, reenactors offer audiences an accessible and engaging way to connect with the past beyond museums and textbooks.

The portraits look beyond costume to reveal the commitment, expertise, and sense of community that underpin this work. The Rehearsal of History reflects on how history is continually interpreted, practised, and communicated, asking how the repeated rehearsal of the past helps keep it relevant in the present.