Goulburn’s Remembrance Museum’s Christmas raffle continues to give back to the community.
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Award-winning Goulburn artist Stavros Papantoniou donated a poignant oil painting titled Somme Mud to the Mulwaree High Remembrance Museum’s Christmas raffle.
Goulburn community member Margaret Parry won the first prize painting and generously re-gifted the artwork back to the museum’s military memorabilia display.
The painting is a depiction of the harsh trench conditions of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I.
The campaign saw 275,000 casualties to armies under British command. It will be displayed on the wall among the 7000-item collection ranging from Iran and Afghanistan conflicts back to the New Zealand Maori War.
Papantoniou used a composite of two photographs looking at a body, which represents the horrors of warfare, as inspiration for the painting.
A war scene is new territory for Papantoniou as an artist, who is used to painting portraits, nudes and Greek Islands.
“I thought it might be a good idea for the raffle and to raise a bit of money for the museum,” Papantoniou said.
“I felt a kinship with the scene and I have respect for the men who fought in the war.”
Raffle winner Margaret Parry donated the painting back to the museum to help others understand the sacrifices soldiers for Australia during the war.
“I’m thrilled to have won it and I’m even more thrilled to be able to pass it back to where it belongs,” Mrs Parry said.
“It depicts the misery of what they’ve been going through, it’s really quite devastating when you look at what they had to fight with and what they achieved with what little they had.”
It has a special place and that's not on my living room wall.
- Margaret Parry
Mrs Parry has an appreciation for the armed services’ memorabilia as her late husband served in the Royal Australian Navy. Parry has items from his time in the navy, which she would like to donate alongside the painting.
“He went to Borneo, Malaya and Vietnam so there’s some significance there and I’d rather see his things here where they can be appreciated and learnt from,” Mrs Parry said.
The painting is available to view at the museum on Sundays from 2pm to 4pm or by appointment.
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