The Shape of Grief

There is beauty in grief.  There is beauty in Memorials.  Especially when a good photogrpher captures the essence of WWI memorials and published them in a book.

Te Horo resident Billie Taylor launched her pictorial essay of WWI memorials on ANZAC Day this year at Whakarewarewa by the Whakarewarewa Military Remembrance Trust.

She produced the book as a tribute to all those who fought in the Great War and in doing so alutes New Zealand's small towns and their struggle to honour their war heroes, and cope with the impact on society and the economy when their men went to war.

Her journey took her around the North Island inspired by a glimpse of the Mapiu Gates in the King Country, captured by the sight of the memorial surrounded by the colours of nature, the reds and greens of the earth and trees.  There were no names on the memorial.  Instead it was graced by Rupert Brooke's lament framed in stone.  After that she started her journey to mark, acknowledge and remember all the fallen throughout the North Island.  Her journey started in 2014 and was shot over four years during the centenary of the Great War.

It's not all monuments though.  Billie talks of her own family and the impact of the war on them.  She identifies the grim statistics of the war; the number of Māori sent and lost, of Pacifica men sent and lost, and nurses were also remembered.  

There are 500 civic war memorials throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.  Billie identifies the debate about whether or not to have memorials, where to site them, in churches or public places, and who should fund them.  It is our history in words as well as photographs.

The book, The Shape of Grief, is more than a picuture book.  It's a social history of the post war time when people wanted to acknowledge their loss in another country's war, miles away from the succour of their families.

This beautiful memorial book, is a tribute to New Zealand soldiers and their families and is also a tribute to Billie Taylor's commitment to producing a worthwhile memorial to them.

The Shape of Grief is available online at https://billietaylornz.myshopify.com and at Books and Co State Highway 1 Ōtaki.

Article written by Ann Chapman and published courtesy of the Ōtaki Mail