| Place | Asia: Korea |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | AWM2019.215.2.4 |
| Collection type | Art |
| Object type | Photograph |
| Physical description | Photography; digital pigment print on archival rag photographique paper |
| Maker |
Grant, Lee |
| Date made | 2019; c1953 |
| Conflict |
Korea, 1950-1953 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
And the rivers still flow towards an open sea: Private Kim Jin-Tai
Description
This print of an historic photograph taken by an unknown photographer in the Memorial's collection was included by artist Lee Grant in "And the rivers still flow towards an open sea". This is one of two series of photographs that comprise "Mnemosyne", responding the history and legacy of the Korean War shared between the Republic of Korea and Australia.
The original caption reads:
"Private Kim Jin-Tai, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army (left) and an unidentified member, possibly 12039 K. J. (Kev) Power, of the Assault Pioneers Support Company, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) sitting behind a Vickers .303 medium machine gun. Approximately 100 Korean Augmentation Troops, Commonwealth (KATCOMs) were attached to Australian units. Photographer unknown (donated by W. Barty) c. 1953."
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.
Grant wrote about this commission:
"My intentions in creating this work was to have a conversation with the collection and to consider my own work alongside that of other photographers who trod in the same places before me. It was a way of corresponding with some of the official war photographers who recorded, in fascinatingly different ways, Australian soldiers going about the acts of war." - Lee Grant, 2019