And the rivers still flow towards an open sea: Korean Martyrs

Artist Lee grant photographed the war graves at the Seoul National Cemetary on a research residency in 2018. The photograph is one of the 11 photographs in the series "And the rivers still flow towards an open sea", which is of two series that comprise "Mnemosyne", responding the history and legacy of the Korean War shared between the Republic of Korea and Australia.

Grant wrote:
"The Korean War was relatively short but exceptionally bloody. An estimated 5 million Koreans died during the war. More than half of these – about 10 percent of Korea’s pre-war population – were civilians. The rate of civilian casualties was higher than in World War II and Vietnam." - 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.