The First War- Nele Azevedo Memorial

Tonight marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One, a plethora of events are taking place globally to commemorate the occasion, including a national blackout from 10-11 O'clock tonight, which I personally will be participating in. Another event I was fortunate enough to witness was Nele Azevedo's "Minimum Monument" on Saturday 2nd August where around 5000 ice soldiers were lined up along the steps of Chamberlain Square.

Individuals were invited to come and participate in the event by placing a soldier on the steps. There were both male and female sculptures helping to reflect not only the lives lost in the field but at home.

The exhibition/memorial helped to provide a visual representation of both physical and mental decay.

Each soldier began to melt individually, and no two soldiers melted in the same way. Many began to melt from the legs, here you can see one of the sculptures who is otherwise intact apart from the loss of  their legs, creating a representation of an amputee.

Others were left untouched for a while except for the loss of their heads, creating a visualization of the mental decay caused by the war and the lack of understanding of mental illness' at the time, resulting in many survivors suffering with shell shock. 

Each soldier took between 30 minutes and 2 hours to melt completely due to the variable weather conditions. The gradual decay of the figures again helped to visualise the invisible "side effects" of the war, and the lack of support the troops received for mental illness, which often lead to them taking their own life in the moths after they returned home. This particular sight is one that struck me quite hard, here you can see a single sculpture sat away from the others, isolated. Its form slowly became disfigured and over time it gradually became thinner, until it simply disappeared.  

Another image I felt particularly moved by was the sculpture on the far right (bellow). Its one side had decayed from the chest down, creating the illusion of a wound which would eventually spread across his entire body. This sculpture is an example of the variations in melting patterns created by the sculptures. 

I am particularly inspired by war themed photography and used it as inspiration for my A2 photography exam, which I intend to post on my photography blog soon. 

In the photograph bellow you can see how the sculptures leaned towards each other for support in their final moments as they melted under the suns heat creating an image of brotherhood and support that the soldiers provided for each other in their time of need.

I hope you can take the time to further research this artist and her monumental exhibitions. And please spare a minute of thought tonight to remember the sacrifices made during The First War.