A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
As an oral history project, we are charged with the task of immortalizing the stories and experiences of Second World War veterans across the country. We take their words and make them public for the world to hear, understand, and interpret. However, this is not as easy as it appears. You can only do so much with words. Words are fact, straightforward, and often simple to understand. And while they are able to accurately portray what the veterans are thinking, they allow limited room for reaction. Everything is given to you. There is little room left for the imagination. And that is why a picture is worth a thousand words. A painting, photograph, or video allows room for interpretation and creativity. It gives visitors to The Memory Project the opportunity to actually to reflect on the words in our archive –to take the stories and use them to create something unique. The Memory Project wants to give youth this opportunity through the Art from Memory Challenge. This challenge gives art students ages 17-30 the chance to take an aspect of our archive –whether it is an artefact, a quote, or a theme –and use it as inspiration for a piece of artwork. The top ten finalists will get their art exhibited in an art gallery in Toronto and the top two winners will receive cash prizes.
Our hope is that students will be able to take these stories and learn something completely new, mainly how to learn to interpret the experience of Second World War service for themselves.
By encouraging the younger generation to take interest in Canadian history, we are ensuring that the efforts of these veterans are not forgotten. In fact, their experiences will be immortalized in the art of young listeners. There is truly no better way to have these memories preserved.
