| Advertisement |
|
Local Guides
|
|
|
LEST WE FORGET
|
by
View
July 13 - 19, 2006 |
|
“The experience was very moving and I slowly began to
comprehend the tremendous losses sustained by so many,”
photographer Jean Crankshaw says of her visit to the battlefields
in Europe where many died in the First and Second World Wars.
Born in Portsmouth, UK at the end of the Second World War,
Crankshaw’s life was defined in many ways by war. “My mother’s
father served in the British army and died from wounds on the
Somme, August 1918, four days before my mother’s fourth
birthday,” she says. “My grandmother, like so many, was left with
small children to cope as best she could on a widow’s pension.
“While I had been told all this as a child, I did not understand
the significance until much later,” Crankshaw reflects. She
immigrated to Canada in 1966, and it wasn’t until a colleague
suggested that a book be created about Canadians in the First
World War, that Crankshaw considered revisiting the battlefields
that had deeply affected her family.
In 2005 Crankshaw and her colleague Susan Evans, whose
grandfather also died in 1918 in action on the Somme, made a
reconnaissance journey to Europe. “On that trip we both visited
our grandfather’s graves,” she says.
“I had expected to be emotionally overwhelmed on my first
visit and I was,” she recalls. “I walked in my grandfather’s
footsteps in the field where he was billeted prior to his death.”
Crankshaw channeled all her emotion into shooting, and
photographed everything she saw and experienced. A collection
of her images are on display at the J.W. Bush gallery in an
exhibition entitled Over There: In the footsteps of Canadians who
served in the Great War.
“The work includes images of memorials and cemeteries,
aerial shots showing the battle scars which are still visible on the
landscape,” the artist describes. As a whole the images string
together like a storyboard of reflective thoughts. There are
images from Europe and Canada included in the exhibition.
Even though her roots are British, having lived in Canada
now for 40 years she feels Canadian. Her British grandfather
serves as her emotional entry into this project, but she keeps the
focus on the Canadian component of the First World War.
The images are shot documentary style, placing the focus on
the contextual reference to war and the people affected by it. “A
patch of blue” shows a beautiful view from the trenches
with a tree reflected in a ground puddle. The peace that
penetrates this scene toys with our psyche as we imagine the
original use of the trench. “My work demonstrates the immense
contrasts between the peace and tranquility which one feels
visiting those areas today and the glimpse of what life must have
been like in the trenches and on the battlefield,” the artist says.
“The Brooding Soldier” (above) encapsulates the show with its
quiet power. An unidentified soldier, with his head lowered in
homage rests as the memorial statue at Vancouver Corner. This
image records the essence of Crankshaw’s artistic eye. Each of
her photographs hones in on the gentleness that is hoped for by
all who experience war. She is able to find sensitivity within the
horror, and reveal a subtle softness. “I believe that as a
passionate artist and a woman I bring a unique perspective to this
subject,” Crankshaw explains.
There are only a handful of Canadian First World War
veterans left. July 1 marked the 90th anniversary of the battle of
the Somme. To bring the memory to the present day, Crankshaw
includes images from Remembrance Day in Hamilton. “I have
juxtaposed images of the battlefields with images taken at the
2005 Remembrance Day parade in Hamilton,” she explains.
“These latter images can be interpreted as showing young
Canadians who appear ready to obey the call.
“I have created a visual memorial to the people who fought
and a link for those who remain, that they may take this journey
with me,” says Crankshaw. “Lest we forget, it is important to
remember, for without our past we become nothing.” V
[ LAURA HOLLICK]
OVER THERE:
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF
CANADIANS WHO SERVED IN THE GREAT WAR
Jean Crankshaw
J.W. BUSH GALLERY
459 Main St W
905.719.6992
Continues to August 25
|
Share on
 |
No comments yet... be the first! |
|
