Letters to Cassino | Initial Concept

Introduction

In the previous post I talked about how we find identity in landscape - particular places we hold to be of significance.

Nowhere provides a better example of this for New Zealanders than Gallipoli. Over recent decades increasing numbers of Kiwi’s (and I use that label deliberately) have been flocking to this barren and rocky promontory for intangible, spiritual reasons. A pilgrimage to Gallipoli has become a kind of Kiwi Hajj; an important element of the great “overseas experience”, often undertaken as part of the journey home. ANZAC Cove is regularly described as the crucible in which our national identity was forged.

There are strong connections between places of conflict and our national identity. I am keen to explore this.

Mac & Monte Cassino



Gallipoli, Paeschendale, El Alamein, Monte Cassino. These are places with resonance for New Zealanders whether or not we fully understand what occurred, why or even which conflict.

Having a new child tends to kindle an interest in your lineage and heritage. This has certainly been true for my wife who still has a grandmother alive. While exploring family connections and looking through old photos one turned up of her late grandfather, Mac, amongst the rubble of Monte Cassino.

Mac’s service at Cassino was well known. Indeed it is mentioned frequently by his widow, children and grandchildren. That Mac was a Cassino veteran is a strong theme in the family’s identity. It causes my wife to get up at 5.30am every April 25th to stand in the rain and cold at a dawn service, wherever she happens to be, even though family knowledge of the campaign and what part Mac played is sketchy at best.

I want to find out more about the man and the place. What happened at Monte Cassino and why. What role did Mac play, what would he have witnessed, and possibly felt about it? I want to find all this out, for my wife and for my daughter. There is also a second element, gathering the shared stories about Mac and Monte Cassino and explore how they are important in helping to bind the family and if and how they diverge from fact. And does that matter?

If I was a writer I’d write about it. If I was a film-maker, I’d make a documentary. But I’m a painter, so I’ll try to use my skills and experience to create a body of artwork that tells the story as best I can.

The plan

The working concept is Letters to Cassino – an imagined correspondence over 65 years between Mac and a Cassino citizen.

The project will have several phases, although not necessarily sequential:
• Gathering the family’s artefacts – shared stories, photos, letters etc
• Researching official records
• Internet and library research
• Onsite research – a visit to Cassino
• The development of a body of artwork
• Exhibition of artworks