In the week leading up to ANZAC Day, Local Government Focus will be highlighting some of the events local governments are hosting to commemorate the ANZAC Centenary.
Orange Regional Gallery will host a major art installation by acclaimed local artist Victor Gordon, to commemorate World War 1 and the centenary of the Gallipoli landing.
Entitled memorate.com.au, this immersive site-specific work is the culmination of 18 months of preparation.
The installation will be launched on the eve of ANZAC Day.
Orange City Council’s Services Policy Committee Chair Cr Ron Gander believes the timely exhibition will generate a lot of interest in the community.
“Much more than a simple arrangement of paintings, I think this installation with a number of quite confronting pieces, will deliver a stark reminder of the significant human cost of war both on our nation and on our community of Orange.
“As we pause to remember the centenary of the first ANZAC landings, this exhibition gives an insight into the military hierarchy and the sheer scale of human resources required to conduct the Great War.”
Artist Victor Gordon said he was moved by the enormous toll of the war on local families to create the nine-metre long painting that is a key image of the exhibition.
“This painting sets the stage by representing the industrial-scale magnitude of tombstone production that was established to meet the demand of the War Graves Commission, for an adequate and tasteful commemoration of the dead.
“I’m hoping this room in the gallery won’t merely be a static commemorative exhibition to be viewed passively, but will be is a simulated emotional and intellectual experience, intended to provoke thought.”
Through the inclusion of additional paintings, mixed-media works and other items that tell their own story, the gallery space has been transformed to provide a powerful and possibly confronting artistic response to the supreme sacrifice of the volunteer solders of World War I.
Gallery Director Lisa Loader said the installation highlights the impact on the Orange region by focusing on one individual, Private Ernest Lachlan Powter.
Private Powter was the youngest volunteer from Orange to die.
Born on 9 March 1900, he was 15 when he enlisted to go to war and was dead by the time he was 16.
“This energetic young man is portrayed in a sensitive full-length painting, based on a photograph from the Australian War Memorial, which shows his youth and sense of conviction.”
There are also references to contemporary local and national opposition to the war.
“The traditional shaming symbol of the white feather which was sent to men who didn’t enlist, forms an integral aspect of the work.
“It highlights the divisive sentiment on the home front which peaked around the two failed conscription referenda debates which divided the nation.
“By highlighting the devastating cost of Australia’s voluntary participation in the War on young lives, Victor Gordon’s response to the ANZAC legacy will provide much food for thought.”
