Lest We Forget Part 5

Part five covers a tape that proves a painting is worth a thousand words, and then some.

No Man's Land

No Man's Land features a powerful collection of war paintings by Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton. This remarkable woman spent three years in the battlefields of Europe after the First World War Armistice to paint the scenes of destruction left behind by the war.

Her images, combined with archival footage of war-torn Europe, convey the horror and futility of war; a theme that is very much a part of The War Amps NEVER AGAIN! message to outlaw war forever.

Mary Riter Hamilton refused all offers to buy her battlefield paintings. Instead, she donated 227 canvases to Library and Archives Canada to be used for the benefit of veterans, their families, and future generations.

War Amps CEO Cliff Chadderton explains how these art treasures might have remained unseen if it had not been for the initiative of Dr. Angela Davis of the University of Manitoba. The War Amps agreed with Dr. Davis that Mary Riter Hamilton's works should be promoted, and welcomed the opportunity to produce No Man's Land. It was The War Amps, in fact, that provided some financing for the artist to visit the battlefields.

Mary Riter Hamilton had a consuming passion to pay tribute to the Canadian soldiers who fought and died in the "war to end all wars." Through No Man's Land, and an exhibition of her paintings that has travelled to several Canadian cities, her wish is at last a reality.

Later,
Kenaz