Each print in this exhibition is an artistic response to World War I (1914–19).
The Australian War Memorial invited five New Zealand and five Australian artists to each create a new art work using printmaking techniques. The medium was chosen to link the past with the present, recalling Australia’s first official war artist, Will Dyson, who was a prolific printmaker.
Some artists drew on their family histories to remember fathers, uncles, or grandparents involved or lost in the war. Others explored their own beliefs about the war and its impact on humanity.
-
Sriwhana Spong, At a place not stated, 2015, lithograph. Gift of The Australian War Memorial, 2016. Te Papa (2016-0006-7)
Sriwhana Spong created a pictorial code using hand-drawn leaves from the Passchendaele region of Belgium and abstract trench designs taken from World War I maps. The code evolved from her feeling unable to speak about the horror of war.
-
Daniel Boyd, Untitled, 2015, lithograph. Gift of The Australian War Memorial, 2016. Te Papa (2016-0006-1)
Daniel Boyd offers an Aboriginal perspective on indigenous Australians in World War I. His print pays tribute to his great-grandfather, who joined the 11th Australian Light Horse Regiment, which had the most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island members of any Australian unit.
