The Human Cost
Client: Veterans Affairs Canada
Date: 2018
Designer: Two Smiths
Location: Canadian Vimy Memorial, France
Materials: Forged steel, cast bronze
Scope of the Project: Design concept, forging, fabrication and assembly
Casting: Stewart Patterns
Concept
In 2018, Two Smiths designed a collaborative sculpture that Canadian Veterans, youth and the general public could all participate in making. The sculpture comprises of 25 forged steel bars with the ends flared and hot chiseled to represent ribbons that support individually cast bronze medallions.
It was Afghanistan war veteran Bram Porter’s idea to use cast coins or medallions made from bronze, citing the fact that we often refer to the cost of war when, from the veteran’s perspective, we should also be considering the price that soldiers pay to serve their countries.
Participants
We interviewed 25 Canadian Veterans and asked them to contribute images, symbols, phrases, sentences or ideas about the human cost of war.
In conjunction with Veterans Affairs Canada, Two Smiths held an event September 28/ 29th, 2018 at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, NB. School groups, the general public and Canadian Veterans were all invited to participate in this collaborative piece. The main structural parts of the sculpture were heated in a coal forge set up on the terrace and participants used hammers to shape the hot metal.
