| Place | Asia: Korea |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | AWM2019.215.2.10 |
| Collection type | Art |
| Object type | Photograph |
| Physical description | Photography; digital pigment print on archival rag photographique paper |
| Maker |
Grant, Lee |
| Place made | Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Korea |
| Date made | 2012, 2019 |
| Conflict |
Korea, 1950-1953 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
And the rivers still flow towards an open sea: A diorama of war at the Historic Park of Geoje POW Camp
Description
Artist Lee Grant photographed this diorama depicting the Korean War at the Historic Park of Geoje POW camp in 2012. She included it in the photographic series "And the rivers still flow towards an open sea", a poetic response to the experience and legacy of the Korean War for that nation. It is one of two series of photographs that comprise "Mnemosyne", responding the history and legacy of the Korean War shared between the Republic of Korea and Australia.
She wrote that the site was "[o]riginally a United Nations Command (UN) POW camp that held North Korean and Chinese prisoners captured by UN forces during the Korean War, [it] was turned into a historic park and museum in 1997, providing visitors a curious insight into the POW camp experience." - Lee Grant, 2019
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.