Published on Friday, 9 April 2021 at 1:04:51 PM

A harrowing and poignant photographic exhibition documenting the impact of WWI on Australia’s grieving women and its returned soldiers is opening in Albany this weekend.

The Recovering the Past exhibition was produced on the former battlefields of Passchendaele by London-based photographer Ian Alderman and have been exhibited at the Palais Des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland and the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium.

Albany’s Princess Royal Fortress will be the only place in Western Australia to view the thought-provoking exhibition of 25 large-format montage photographs.

The images feature Australia’s famed Diggers and the Belgian Army’s Flanders-based bomb disposal team alongside gripping quotes sourced from Australian archives.

Mr Alderman said the ambitious documentary project took him six years to produce and bring to Australia as an exhibition.

“I’ve created it with our younger generations in mind, so that we may never forget how truly devastating the physical and psychological consequences of war are,” he said.

Curator Princess Royal Fortress David Theodore said this world-renowned exhibition would provide unique educational opportunities for Albany’s community.

“It is so important for us to reflect on our collective past and learn about how war can still impact our communities today,” he said.

“This exhibition gives residents and visitors to Albany the chance to see something new and tackle some truly thought-provoking topics that still hold weight.”

The Recovering The Past exhibition is free for all to attend and will be available to view in the Princess Royal Fortress Barracks Building from April 10 to August 1, 2021 between 9am and 4pm every day.

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