Melding history with art, multi-disciplined artist Greer Townshend’s exhibition Here I Come to The Very Edge explores the experiences of Queensland soldiers during the First World War. Scoring an extended run after initially debuting earlier in the year, the exhibition, which is made up of a series of 3D portrait paper sculptures, is the outcome of Greer’s research for her 2017 Q ANZAC 100 Fellowship at the State Library of Queensland. Throughout her fellowship, Greer studied the experience of soldiers and service people during the First World War. Accessing artefacts from the library archive gave Greer the opportunity to develop a deeper insight into the lives of Queensland soldiers, allowing her to translate these rich stories into art.

Each unique work depicts a portrait and the interior world of a different Queensland soldier or service person, making it a deeply personal project for Greer. The layers of the subconscious are depicted in the artworks through multiple layers of paper-cuts, which are then backlit. The pieces, which tell a very different story when they are in darkness, encourage the audience to remember and reflect upon the profound effect of war on soldiers and service people. Here I Come to The Very Edge will be on display at Museum of Brisbane in the Adelaide Street Gallery until Sunday January 31. To learn more, head here.

This article was written with our friends at Museum of Brisbane.