Dreamer

This painting depicts a man sleeping with a hat over his face in the late afternoon of 24 April 2015 at Gallipoli. Artist David Jolly was commissioned by the Memorial to attend the centenary Anzac Day Dawn Service at Gallipoli and create a series of paintings in response. Jolly works by photographing and recording places and events and then selecting moments and details that convey the larger story. In this case, he explored Gallipoli for several days, taking photographs, short film and sound recordings and drawing key sites on the Peninsula. The seven paintings present moments from between the afternoon of 24 April and the conclusion of the Dawn Service, when the crowds left the commemorative site.

This painting is the first of those moments, when in the late afternoon and early evening attendees tried to get some sleep, aware that a long night was ahead and that once the full audience had arrived, there would not be room to lie down. As it was still daylight, this man used his souvenir 'beanie' hat to block out the sun - the bright yellow hats, scarves and jumpers were prominent amongst the crowd who attended.