Anzac bridges to link commemorations

Thanks to the Wairarapa Times-Age for this article on the Anzac Bridge project. 

"At the Anzac Day service here, we will read out a message from Brooweena and the names of the Broweena soldiers and they will read out a message we send to them and the names of our soldiers at their Anzac commemoration."

I've seen both these messages and I think they are both going to be very powerful and affecting tributes. I won't divulge their contents yet, but will post the text here after the Anzac Day services. 

I'm also looking forward to posting some of the wonderful artwork and poems by the children of the schools,  both here and in Queensland. 

he Anzac Memorial Bridge at Kaiparoro in Wairarapa. PHOTO/FACEBOOK

The Anzac Bridge Felllows

One of the (many) special things about the Anzac Bridge Fellowship is feeling that you are carrying on a tradition of previous artists' or writers' work, so here are some links to previous Fellows from the last few years:

2015: Connah Podmore's Writing to History project invited members of the community to write a postcard to a war time ancestor (not necessarily a soldier - one boy wrote a letter to a donkey!) Her own postcard was written to Alfred Falkner,designer of the bridge, because of a feeling of connection to him as a fellow maker of memorials. The postcards were collected and featured in a video work and installation shown at Pukaha Mt Bruce on Anzac Day 2015.

2014: In the Harakeke Poppy Remembrance Project, Anna Borrie created a 10m long cloak made of white rata vine and featuring 800 harakeke (flax) poppies. People from the community helped to make the cloak, which was draped over the bridge at the Anzac Day service.  (Fabulous photos of the 2014 Anzac Day service here and here.)

The artist and descendents carry the cloak onto the Bridge

2013: Lucy Jerram Moore had already worked on a collaborative exhibition called War cry /Letters home. You can see her lovely water colour of the bridge here.

The Anzac Bridge project on the WW100 site

The Linking Bridges project is now listed on the WW100 site. This is a great place to explore if you want to find out the huge range of commemorative activities and projects that are being worked on all around the country.

The Linking Bridges project

Where this started...

Call-Out for 2016 ANZAC Bridge Fellowship

New Zealand Pacific Studio Artists' Residency Centre

Closes: 25 Jan 2016

Posted on: 21 Dec 2015

Region: Wellington

New Zealand Pacific Studio Artists’ Residency Centre and the Friends of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge Kaiparoro invite applications for a two week ANZAC Bridge Fellowship. The purpose of this Fellowship is to maintain a rich cultural context for the annual commemorations centred at New Zealand Pacific Studio and the nearby ANZAC Memorial Bridge in northern Wairarapa.  The Fellowship is made possible with a community grant from Trust House Community Enterprise, Masterton, which comes with the mandate that the fellowship project engage the residents of the nearby communities on and around ANZAC Day (25 April) 2016; including a short presentation/performance at the FOAB ANZAC Day Service.

The year 2016 is of great significance as it marks 100 years since the Battle of the Somme. The Gallipoli experience of 1915 has overshadowed New Zealand’s enormous contribution on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918. Yet it was the Battle of the Somme that we as a country suffered our worst days in military history in terms of people wounded and killed. The Friends of ANZAC Bridge will be remembering the Battle of the Somme at their 2016 ANZAC Day Service.

Creative practitioners of any kind are invited to make project proposals as to how they would involve the nearby communities of Eketahuna, Pahiatua and Northern Masterton (including Kaiparoro/Mount Bruce, Mauriceville, Rongokokako and Nireaha) and how they could contribute to or enrich the annual ANZAC  Bridge Memorial Service.

For examples of work by previous ANZAC Fellows:

Anna Borrie, Multimedia artist, Fiordland, Harakeke Cloak Remembrance Project, 2014

Connah Podmore, Interdisciplinary artist, Wellington, Writing to History, 2015

Selection will be based on the nature and strength of an applicant’s proposed project and the degree to which all parties would benefit: the creative practitioner, NZPS, the Friends of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge, and the community.  Applicants could be writers, researchers, historians and storytellers, visual artists, curators, dancers or choreographers, digital artists, producers or film-makers. Cross-disciplinary practice is also welcomed. Applicants can be at any stage in their creative ‘careers.’

  Applications close midnight Monday 25 January, 2016.