Kerrie ARGENT
Title:  One of many untold stories
Medium: canvas, silk, hessian, paper, card, waxed linen thread, tin
Dimensions:  82.5 x 115 x 19 cm
I was given a copy of my grandfather's diary that he had written when he was away in the Second World War.  I had been thinking how lucky we were, to still be able to have and treasure his diary, that he had written and stored in an old Tobacco tin, and that it is still in our family...this led me to think about how innovative he was to manage to keep it safe and  dry, how he cut out all the pages and stored them in the tobacco tin and kept his pencil sharp enough to write that small.   To think about how all the other soldiers may have had journals/diaries and what happened to them.  Did they take the time to write them? 
To think about how all the other soldiers may have had journals/diaries and what happened to them. Did they take the time to write them? Did other families get to see and read their grandfathers diary? Were they kept, or were they just lost amongst all other books and tossed out at some stage? Then I thought about all the diaries and journals that never returned to Australia but were lost with their owners when they were ‘killed in action’. To think of all the stories that would never return home to be told, or shared, or treasured. This led to my work of making books with no words in, to remind us of all the ‘Untold Stories’ the casualties of war, and in amongst these I have put my grandfather’s very special diary. I have used a variety of recycled paper and fabrics to create journals of many different sizes and shapes. The papers and fabrics have been rusted and dyed with natural dyes and waxed to make them look old weathered and well used, like they have been carted through the war then left unread, unused, un-noticed and unloved on a shelf on someone’s cupboard or shelf. 
​
Kerrie Argent has a Bachelor of Art (Fine Art) from Curtin University. She has held five solo exhibitions and  participated in numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Her sculptural work is popular in Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions. Argent’s artwork is included in private collections nationally and internationally.