Flowers of War 3: The Shrine of Remembrance

Full description

BACKGROUND: The ‘World War One centenary’ initiatives developed with the ‘Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund’ (AU), ‘14-18 NOW’ (UK) and (WW100) Co-Commissioning Fund in New Zealand was a scheme to support new, large-scale, collaborative works. ‘Flowers of War’ was one of the selected centenary projects. It explored the process of creating a commemorative object informed by community engagement. The breadth of interdisciplinary practices included participatory design processes, communication design and contemporary enamelling methodologies.

CONTRIBUTION: In November 2018 enamellists Kirsten Haydon, Elizabeth Turrell and communication designer Neal Haslem exhibited the Flowers of War (FoW) project in Melbourne, Australia at the Shrine of Remembrance. This third international presentation of the FoW project exhibited the completed form of the steel and enamel wreath. The exhibition was presented as a highlight to coincided with the Centenary of Armistice Day services at the Shrine. Installed in a custom designed darkened space in the East Gallery the exhibition allowed viewers to explore the complexity of the completed commemorative collaborative wreath within a highly meditative space. The final wreath comprised over 450 individually crafted, intertwined botanical steel and enamel brooches. The result was an impactful experience for all Shrine attendees, incorporating a purpose-built lighting system, a specifically developed digital interactive and a full education program.

SIGNIFICANCE: FoW was presented at the Shrine of Remembrance for the 100 year anniversary of Armistice Day. The Shrine is the National War Memorial of Victoria and develops high quality education programs to Victorian communities. The Shrine had a record attendance of 1.2 million visitors in 2018 and FoW provided the focus for the education program. FoW was selected as a (WW100) Co-Commissioning Fund project by a panel of experts on the New Zealand arts board at Creative New Zealand in 2014.