| Place | Asia: Korea |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | AWM2019.215.1 |
| Collection type | Art |
| Measurement | Overall: 125 x 200 cm |
| Object type | Installation |
| Physical description | Photography; digital pigment print on archival rag photographique paper |
| Maker |
Grant, Lee |
| Place made | Korea |
| Date made | 2019 |
| Conflict |
Korea, 1950-1953 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
Mnemosyne: Towards a field of sleep
Description
Consisting of 14 photographs, "Towards a field of sleep" presents the Australian experience of the Korean War. It is one of two series of photographs that comprise "Mnemosyne" by artist Lee Grant, responding the history and legacy of the Korean War shared between the Republic of Korea and Australia.
Grant was selected by the Australian War Memorial as the Australian artist for the inaugural artist residency exchange project with the Republic of Korea. (Taedong Kim was the Korean artist, he spent a month based at the Australian War Memorial.) Grant travelled to Korea to research the history and legacy of the conflict. She visited historic sites and met with current and former service personnel and civilians who lived through the war. She then undertook research at the Australian War Memorial and met with Australian veterans. "Mnemosyne" includes two series of photographs, "Towards a field of sleep" and "And the rivers still flow towards an open sea". Grant's own photographs are complemented with archival photograph's from the Memorial collection. Mnemosyne is the name of the ancient Green goddess of memory and remembrance. The title 'Towards a field of sleep' was inspired by the poem "Towards the field of sleep" by Korean poet Choi Jeongrye.
The artist wrote about this project:
"My intentions in creating this work, were to have a conversation with the collection and to consider my own work alongside that of other photographers who trod in the same places before me. It was a way of corresponding with some of the official war photographers who recorded, in fascinatingly different ways, Australian soldiers going about the acts of war. ... I became interested in the disjunct between actual experience and photographic representation, as well as photography’s ability to supplant memory. In this sense, I am referencing the fiction of memory and how as nations (and individuals) we choose to remember the past as we do and how such memories go on to shape the present and more importantly the future, even after we are all long gone. In piecing each work together, I wanted people to reflect on the long-term unintended consequences of the Korean War (and it goes without saying, of war in general)." - Lee Grant, 2019
- Towards a field of sleep: Anotogaster sieboldii aka General Dragonfly
- Towards a field of sleep: In a foxhole somewhere near the 38th Parallel
- Towards a field of sleep: October skies over the Korean War Memorial
- Towards a field of sleep: Summer Chrysanthemums
- Towards a field of sleep: Hantan-gang
- Towards a field of sleep: Walking over snow-covered mountains
- Towards a field of sleep: Shaman/Shindo ribbons ribbons on Daegwallyeong Mountain
- Towards a field of sleep: Portrait of O4410 Flight Lieutenant Ian Russell Olorenshaw
- Towards a field of sleep: Unidentified members of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR)
- Towards a field of sleep: An unidentified soldier from the 3rd Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR)
- Towards a field of sleep: An abandoned military bunker in the DMZ, now used for training purposes
- Towards a field of sleep: Seven Australian soldiers who died during the Korean War
- Towards a field of sleep: Brass cross from the war grave of Private A. Davidson
- Towards a field of sleep: Brian Leo King