20 Artscene Sign up now for guitar, bass, drums, and piano OAKVILLE'S MUSIC STORE · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 Arts community comes together to remember By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF O ld bunkers covered in graffiti, crumbling fortifications atop chalk-white cliffs, moss covered anti-tank barriers silently guarding an empty beach. The photos, currently on display at the Oakville Galleries, are of the beaches of Dieppe as they appear today. The tranquil and hauntingly beautiful images, taken by Bertrand Carriere, belie the violence and destruction of the setting's Second World War past. In 1942, Dieppe was the scene of one of Canada's greatest military catastrophes when a raid by nearly 5,000 Canadian soldiers was met with murderous resistance from the occupying German forces. At the conclusion of the battle, more than 900 Canadians had been killed with more than 1,800 taken prisoner. "The artist Bertrand Carriere went to these beaches and photographed the way they look today, which is basically how they were left after this raid," said Elizabeth Underhill, interim curatorial assistant and registrar. "These images are quite beautiful, but they are also quite haunting in the way this moment in history has been frozen in time." For Second World War pilot Wess McIntosh, the exhibit serves as a reminder of just how poorly planned the Dieppe Raid really was. A photo of an abandoned concrete bunker embedded within the nearby cliffs illustrates just how protected the Germans were and how exposed the Canadians would have been as they charged up the beaches. "They didn't have a chance," said McIntosh, gesturing to the bunker photo. "They weren't killed, they were murdered. Some of our guys tried to climb up the cliffs and the Germans were just shooting them. RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER REMEMBERING: Second World War pilot Wess McIntosh takes a moment to reflect on a war-themed photo display at Oakville Museum.The museum is one of several arts venues across town that have banded together to pay homage to those who fought for us in times of war. How can you shoot a gun when you're climbing up a hill." For local writer Tom Douglas, who has written extensively about Canada at war, the photos stirred memories of his own journey to Dieppe and of those who fought there. "I had a Sunday school teacher, when I was a young boy, who fought at Dieppe. One Sunday it happened to be the anniversary of Dieppe and he tried to explain to us what it was like to give your life for a fellow man. This didn't mean anything to us at the time and we giggled and laughed and threw bread crusts at each other and he broke down and cried and left," said Douglas. "To this day I feel so bad about that and I wish I could go back to him and say, `Now I understand.'" Besides the photos, the exhibit also features a documentary of Carriere's visit to Dieppe. During this visit Carriere took the photos of more than 900 current members of the Canadian Forces and placed them on the beach in an effort to show what 900 casualties really looks like. The Dieppe photos, which will be on display until Nov. 22, is not the only war-related art exhibit in town, with the Oakville arts community unveiling many others in honour of Remembrance Day. See Soldiers page 23