War and Peace at the Arts Centre Gold Coast

Posted by Sas Lyon

To coincide with 100th Year commemorations of the ANZAC landing in Gallipoli, Australian Creative Exchange has organised this exhibition, War and Peace, which instigates a dialogue between artists from Turkey, New Zealand and Australia.

On Remembrance Day in 1993, the then Australian Prime Minister, the Hon. P.J. Keating MP, delivered a powerful eulogy at the funeral service of the Unknown Australian Soldier. He reflected,“This Unknown Australian is not interred here to glorify war over peace; or to assert a soldier’s character above a civilian’s; or one race or one nation or one religion above another; or men above women; or the war in which he fought and died above any other war; or of one generation above any that has or will come later.The Unknown Soldier honours the memory of all those men and women who laid down their lives for Australia. His tomb is a reminder of what we have lost in war and what we have gained.”

There were also more than 80,000 Turkish casualties in this war, and we are honoured to have distinguished artists from Hacettepe University in Ankara join with us in this exhibition. With peace comes an opportunity not only to enhance our understanding of each other’s culture and lifestyle through the medium of art, but also for the Gold Coast community to experience the cultural diversity this exhibition will bring.

Australian artists:
Lainie Cooper, Tony Dowers, Antone Bruinsma, Michaela Kloeckner, Myrung Muir, Maggie Huebner, Judy Anderson, Mark Warne, Robert Todonai, Dieter Kloeckner, Maddie Hodges, Stephen Baxter

New Zealand artists:
Dean Cogle, Lynette Harvey, Amelia Batchelor, Mark Wilson, Christian Halford

Turkish artists:
Husnu Dokak, Cebrail Otgun, Ismail Ates, Hasan Kiran, Zuhal Baysar, Serap Emmungil, Havva Altun, Engin Esen , Seyed Mehdi Saadati, Nil Koken, Ozan Bilginer, Mehmet Ors, Asli Isiksal, Seval Sener

Source: the Arts Centre Gold Coast