Flowers at the Vilu War Museum, which eX de Medici incorporated into the foreground right side of ...

Flowers at the Vilu War Museum, which eX de Medici incorporated into the foreground right side of 'Tetanus' [ART94226]. The Vilu War Museum is an outdoor museum where Solomon Islanders had consolidated wreckage left behind after the Battle of Guadalcanal (August 1942 to February 1943), during the Second World War. The locals charge a small entrance fee to see the rusting wrecks and weapons. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with troops from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga formed the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). The RAMSI peacekeeping mission has been present in the Solomon Islands since 2003. eX de Medici was sent to the Solomon Islands in March 2009 as an Australian War Memorial official artists during one of the wettest weeks of the year. Continual downpour restricted her ability to paint or sketch on site. De Medici relied on journal records and hundreds of photographs of her observations and experiences to produce her artwork. Stitching together elements from numerous photographs, de Medici created a series of artworks that does not reflect a particular location, instead merges historical and contemporary motifs revealing the uncertain future of the Solomon Islands.