Regular Random: five minutes with Lt Col. Percival Fenwick (1870-1958)

Detail; model of Lt. Col. Percival Fenwick from Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibition at Te Papa, Wellington, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

While in Wellington last week, I went to the exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Created in partnership with Weta Workshop, the exhibition explores the WWI Gallipoli campaign through the lives and memories of eight individuals who served there. For each of the eight, a giant (2.4 times normal size) life-like model was created by Weta, showing them at a particular moment.

Lt. Colonel Percival Fenwick, who features in these photos, was a 45-year-old surgeon with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He was amongst the first New Zealanders to land at Gallipoli on April 25th, 1915 and remained there for two months until evacuated; sick and exhausted.

The Te Papa model shows Fenwick on May 4th 1915, leaning over Infantryman Jack Aitken of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment, in despair at not being able to save the man’s life.

Model of Lt Col Percival Fenwick. Te Papa. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Close-up #1 from model of Percival Fenwick at Gallipoli: The scale of our war, Te Papa. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Close-up #2 from model of Percival Fenwick at Gallipoli: The scale of our war, Te Papa. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Model of Percival Fenwick at Gallipoli: The scale of our war, Te Papa. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Percival Fenwick survived WWI and returned to New Zealand where he continued to practice medicine. He died aged 88, in 1958.

This is a much more sombre subject than I usually post for the Five Minutes of Random (the RegularRandom challenge), but the exhibition was very moving and worthwhile.

Five Minutes of Random is a weekly photo challenge hosted by Desley Jane at Musings of a Frequently Flying Scientist.