July 2012

My Dad died in December ’07. He was a WW2 Airforce Veteran who tripped on the concrete slab path whilst putting the wheelie bin out. The knock to his head killed him six days later. He never regained consciousness after the first day.

This was an ironic ending for a man who survived harrowing war time incidents and had carried out a lifetime campaign of ‘watch your step’, ‘be careful’ and ‘walk don’t run’ on me and my siblings.

Until the hospital called me early in ‘08 to claim Dad’s personal belongings, I had no intention of dealing with his passing in an artistic context.

It had always been obvious that WW2 was the most significant event in Dad’s life. He loved talking about it. Nothing else ever quite stood up against it. He had kept an extensive photographic record of his experiences together with some peripheral physical objects.

I run early in the mornings down by the bay I live near. I found myself thinking about what I could do with my art practice to acknowledge Dad’s passing. I applied for an Australia Council Grant for New Work in April ’08. In early August ’08 I received notification that my application was successful.

The work you see presented here is the result of my two year journey of self reflection.

Max Ball’s project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.