Return to ANZAC Cove – ‘Your Friend The Enemy’

Dates & times

Sat 11 April — Sun 17 May 2015

Image: Euan Macleod, 2014. Courtesy of the artist, Watters Gallery, Sydney and Niagra Galleries, Melbourne.
STANLEY RUSSELLS TOP 3/5/14
Oil on polyester 53 x 65.5cm

 

During two expeditions, one in 2013, one in 2014, groups of Australian and New Zealand artists set up their easels in the Dardanelles, revisiting what was once called ‘the most sacred corner of Australian soil.’ Tens of thousands of young men had lost their lives here during the 1914-18 war.

This exhibition portrays a landscape of tragic memory via the responses of 12 contemporary artists – Elisabeth Cummings, Idris Murphy, Euan Macleod, Guy Maestri, Steve Lopes, Deirdre Bean, Peter O’Doherty, Amanda Penrose Hart, Leo Robba, Luke Sciberras, Michael Shepherd, John Walsh and the filmmaker Bruce Inglis.

The exhibition’s title, ‘Your Friend the Enemy,’ originates in a letter written by Idris Charles Pike, the grandfather of artist Idris Murphy. The phrase testifies to an extraordinary relationship between the enemy camps.

During periodic ceasefires, Turkish soldiers would haul tobacco and papers over no-man’s-land into the ANZAC trenches, in exchange for biscuits and jam. On one occasion there was a note attached, signing off ‘from your friend, the enemy.’

A parallel to this exhibition, consisting of additional works from the same excursions, will be held concurrently at Sydney’s SH Ervin Gallery and a special edition of Artist Profile magazine will appear in conjunction with the event. The project received major sponsorship from the paint manufacturers Winsor & Newton.

More information on the “Your Friend The Enemy” website, here.

Read John McDonald’s article

A CATALOGUE for the exhibition is on sale at the front desk of the Drill Hall Gallery or can be ordered on line.

 

Photo credit Rob Little

Euan Macleod, Stanley, Russells Top 3/5/14 2014, oil on polyester, 53 x 65.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist, Watters Gallery, Sydney and Niagara Galleries, Melbourne

 

Updated:  18 May 2015/ Responsible Officer:  DHG Director/ Page Contact:  Drill Hall Gallery