Visual texts as mediated communicationReading war memorials

War memorials and collective memory

• a feature of the landscape of all nations• They are not history but collective memory• What shapes do monuments take and what

messages do they send us about ourselves? About war?

• These are texts to be interpreted – they contain visual messages and linguistic

The Memorial to The Siege of Leningrad

text

• Here lie LeningradersHere are citydwellers - men, women, and childrenAnd next to them, Red Army soldiers.They defended you, Leningrad,The cradle of the RevolutionWith all their lives.We cannot list their noble names here,There are so many of them under the eternal protection of granite.But know this, those who regard these stones:

• No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.

Vietnam war memorial, Washington DC

Gallipoli

Text

• Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosoms and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well.

Atatürk Memorial, Wellington

Atatürk Memorial, Canberra