Six more for the Australian War Memorial

For this year’s Remembrance Day, the Australian War Memorial will display a new sculpture commemorating the lives of fallen soldiers.

Six more (2011), sculpted by celebrated Australian artist Alexander Seton, consists of six highly realistic folded ceremonial flags carved from Queensland pearl marble, each with a halyard tied around its centre.

“I had created this work to emphasize the sheer number of Australian loses ongoing in the Afghanistan conflict. I don't think I had realized the full impact of what I had committed to, now I can hardly remove the flag from individual it's meant to represent” said Alexander Seton.

The six flags represent six soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan between May and August 2011. The names of the fallen soldiers are incised on the underside of the sculpture: Brett Wood, Andrew Jones, Marcus Case, Rowan Robinson, Todd Langley, and Matthew Lambert.

Ryan Johnston, Head of Art at the Memorial, says, “Six more is an extraordinary work. Seton has carved the marble to realistically reflect the appearance of a woven flag, while at the same time using the marble’s unique colouring and veins to evoke the human body. It’s not just a work of great sculptural skill, but a complex and meditative memorial to the soldiers.”

The sculpture was acquired in 2011 and this is the first time it has been displayed to the public at the Memorial.

Six more is part of a series of sculptures. The earlier As of today commemorated 23 Australian soldiers who had been killed in the Afghanistan War.

Brett Wood’s medals, and the actual flag that accompanied Marcus Case’s body in Afghanistan, are on display in the Conflicts 1945 to today galleries.

Six more is on display in the Memorial’s Orientation gallery until January 2013.