The worst is yet to come.
Bad weather provides an incentive to do indoor things, so yesterday, Mary and I went to the national museum, Te Papa, to see the ANZAC exhibition, “The Scale of Our War“. Mounted by Weta Workshops this is a tribute to the fallen to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli landing. The primary exhibits are a series of models or sculptures two and a half times larger than life, of actual New Zealanders in wartime situations. They are stunning in their execution. Every hair is perfect. Dental records were consulted to ensure the individuals were portrayed accurately. Family members of those shown have attested to the accuracy of the portrayals. My first picture is of the military surgeon, Lt. Col. Percival Fenwick. The scene shows him sitting devastated at the end of a particularly bloody day of surgery.
There were many very powerful scenes depicted, but among the most moving was that of Staff Nurse Lottie Le Gallais, New Zealand Army Nursing Service, who was on the hospital ship, Maheno. She is shown grieving as she learns that her own brother had been killed. The news was conveyed to her by the brutally honest rubber stamp on the letters she had sent to him: “Killed. Return to Sender”. Personal note: I have done my best to depict these figures well, but want to acknowledge that the real art, the astonishing skill, is that of the people at Weta Workshops.
Later in the day, as heavy rain disrupted most main roads in the lower North Island, I wandered about near Upper Hutt looking for the misty shots of clouds wreathed around the hills.
I went as far as the Plateau at Maymorn and enjoyed the beauty of the mist-shrouded landscape, hoping that there were no trampers in those rugged hills who might need to be rescued.
It was a good day, despite the weather.
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