Description
8” x 10”, colour, softcover, 156 pages
ISBN 978-0-9868733-9-3
Justine MacDonald acknowledges that her experience growing up in a military family very likely inspired her quest to create a collection of powerful images that tell the tales of what she views as the horror and utter futility of war.
The book, which will be launched on November 1, shares photographs MacDonald captured during her visits to western European battlefields in 2001 and 2017.
“Not every military child develops an interest in military history, but I did. I think my interest in history in general and my love of travel mixed with my family background led me to this point,” says MacDonald. “A better photographer now than when I visited these sites with my family as a young adult, I wanted to return and re-photograph them – to try and do the sites justice and share the experience with those who are unable to make the journey themselves.”
Born in Alberta, MacDonald would move several times throughout her early years spending time in Winnipeg, Germany and finally settling here in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. After “carrying around a camera for 30 years” it was in Nova Scotia that MacDonald’s dreams of becoming a professional photographer materialized.
Of all the images in Remembrance Road, each one accompanied by detailed historical insight, there is one that stands out for MacDonald.
“There is an image I’ve called, ‘Countless’ – which fills the frame with the rows and rows of headstones, giving you this visual of the numbers involved in the conflicts,” says MacDonald. “The inscriptions of many headstones in the front row remind us how many families never got closure – they never knew what became of their loved ones.”
