100 faces, 100 years: Bronze memorial to fallen soldiers unveiled

It took five years and vats of molten bronze, but Sunday's unveiling of St. John's newestwar memorial was worth the effort for both the artistand the 100 others who helped put it together.

"This is not a traditional piece," artist Morgan MacDonaldsaid, speaking to supporters in Victoria Park at the unveiling of 100 Portraits of the Great War.

• INTERACTIVE | Putting a face on history

Behind him,the memorial rises up, a monument to those who put their lives on the line a century ago.

But the images on display capture the living, not the dead.

Cast from the faces of 100descendants of Newfoundland Regiment soldiers who fought in the First World War, the installation is a kind of "living memory" featuring the families who have carried pain, loss, and pride throughout the last century.

After castingeach volunteer, MacDonald arranged the bronze effigies,some flashing small smiles or furrowing theirbrows, othersappearing pained or meditativeas they remembertheir ancestors.

MacDonaldthen welded the casts to an oval framereminiscent of antique war portraits.

"Many of these portraits hang across mantles, kitchen tables, and legions around the inlets and bays of this province,"MacDonaldsaid.

"For me, it's the memory of my grandfather," he said.

The image is enshrined in the family'sEastport home.

Community effort

MacDonald believes it's the largest bronze installation in the province and it could have been bigger, had there been space.

"It was like lighting a match in a tinder box," he said. "It was very easy to find volunteers. The hard part was actually telling people, 'Sorry, all the spaces are taken up.'"

Volunteers were asked to cover their hairlines with Vaseline and remain still while the casting material hardened.

"It's not for the faint of heart. We're literally taking goo alginate, if anyone's gone to the dentist and had an impression of their teeth, it's the same material they have to breathe through a straw and wait for it to set."

Mark Critch, honorarychair of the Victoria Park Foundation, called the installation a "jewel in the crown" of the downtown green space.

"We begged him for the piece," Critch said. "We didn't have a plan for a sculpture or a statue, but when we heard that this piece was available, we knew it was so important to the park. The regiment would gather here often."

Living memory

ForMacDonald, the project was simply a collection of stories that needed to be told tales of the war he'd hear from friends and neighbours.

JeanetteJobsonoffered MacDonaldher own family's story, sitting for his projectin memory of her great uncle, Gordon Bastow, who was pronounced missing in action after the war.

Jobson said his disappearance remained a mystery until she went back through records, finally uncovering Bastow's fate.

"He was killed by a shell, and there was no body to be found," she said, holding his framed portrait. "At just 22, I'm sure for many years they expected it to all be a horrible mistake, and he would walk through the door."

MacDonaldsays it was a moving experience for so many volunteers to stand in for their loved ones.

"I think it's incredibly special to have a placeholder and a location, so they can come and reflect on that memory."

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