In 2005, artist Karole Marois was selected to participate in the prestigious Canadian Forces Artists Program. The program deploys civilian artists with Canadian troops to witness the experiences of servicemen and servicewomen, and express them through their art. Marois travelled to the Netherlands for the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. She attended the Liberation Parade in Apeldoorn, which honoured the Canadian soldiers who liberated the city in 1945. That experience inspired this artwork.
The work comprises 13 canvas panels, each 30 centimetres wide and 122 centimetres high. “I purposely chose this shape of canvas so that, when installed together side by side, the complete artwork would look like a row of soldiers, or a row of gravestones,” explained Marois.
The work includes paintings of the graves of two Canadians who died in the Netherlands: Private Winifred Lilian (Wright) Brewster and Lieutenant Joseph Raymond Yves Morrissette.
