World War One photos turned into artwork at Gallery

HISTORIC war photographs have been turned into pieces of art as part of a new exhibition at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery.

The exhibition, curated by USQ academics Dr Martin Kerby and Associate Professor Janet McDonald, re-imagines photographs by official World War One photographer Captain Frank Hurley.

Dr Kerby, a senior lecturer in USQ's School of Teacher Education and Early Childhood, said the exhibition had provided eight contemporary artists with the opportunity to re-imagine WWI through a contemporary lens.

He said Hurley's photographs of the war-torn landscape of the Western Front and the Middle East were hauntingly beautiful and iconic.

"The photographs provide an appropriate starting point for a re-imagining by the artists in this exhibition because they transcend the context in which they were created," Dr Kerby said.

Fellow curator Associate Professor Janet McDonald from the USQ School of Arts and Communication said without the ubiquitous use of technology that we were accustomed to, photographs such as Hurley's took on even greater significance.

"Each of the artworks in this exhibition seek to connect with a specific Hurley image and re-imagine it through a personal aesthetic. In this way, the artists not only challenge the loss of memories, but also explore the process of remembering," she said.

The artists included in the exhibition are Michael Armstrong, Margaret Baguley, Beata Batorowicz, Garry Dolan, Neville Heywood, Abbey MacDonald, Anne Smith and David Usher.

The exhibition will open at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery on August 4.