When I Lost You was made for the exhibition Loss, reverence and longing: Anzac stories from the home front, a partnership between Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Pioneer Women’s Hut and Charles Sturt University. Our work was inspired by a series of three postcard that “Tom” sent to Miss Marie Stanfield of Fitzroy, Victoria on 24 November 1915, 7 December 1915 and 11 December 1915. On the front of each postcard is a verse from the Irvin Berlin song, When I Lost You, on the back, a short hand written messages from Tom, telling Marie when he will arrive to see her.

The Irvin Berlin song, having been written after the passing of Berlin’s wife of five months, is about longing, as much as the handwritten messages are about Tom’s longing for Marie. We don’t know much about Tom and Marie except as the story goes, that Tom once “walked” from his training barracks in Tasmania to Marie’s home in Victoria.

We wanted to create a connection to this longing, the essence of the postcards, and the repetitive motion of walking long distances in this installation.

Made in collaboration with Vic McEwan

Curated by Linda Elliot and Julie Montgarrett

Wagga Wagga Art Gallery: 12 April – 10 June 2015