Lest we forget

In 2007 Frazer visited his home town of Murtoa, Victoria, to develop a number of works for an exhibition, and the visit coincided with ANZAC Day. Moved by the town's march and service, Frazer made a wood block engraving of 'Les', a veteran who organised and led the march through the town. Frazer began the initial drawing for the work in Murtoa, and later finished the engraving in Melbourne.
A black and white woodcut, the work portrays Les standing in the centre of a street in Murtoa, flanked by receding rows of telegraph poles on one side and trees on the other. A railway line runs along the edge of the street at left, and a water tower punctures the clouded sky to his right. Viewed from a low vantage point, Les dominates the landscape despite his frail appearance. Dressed in a suit adorned with war medals and holding his hat in one hand, the elderly veteran gazes directly at the viewer with a solemn expression. Les appears a solitary figure in a scene devoid of the usual ANZAC Day crowds and fanfare. His fragility and stillness contrasts with the turbulent movement of the clouded sky that surrounds him. Though Les bares a squinting, solemn expression, his oversized suit and almost comical posture are perhaps evidence of Frazer's signature wry humour. Frazer's emphasis on the great expanse of cloud filled sky and water tower imbues the landscape with a distinctly Australian feel. This work has a strong sense of nostalgia - both for Les as one of a generation of veterans diminishing in number with every year, and for Murtoa as a kind of rural utopia that is fast fading from view.