From a son to a father, a feat of love
Louise Schwartzkoff
WHEN Tom Carment's father, Max, died last year, he left behind a few mementoes of his time as a prisoner of war in Changi: two handmade pipes, tobacco and a heavily darned army sock.
Carment senior wore the sock in the Japanese prison camps of Sandakan, Kuching and Changi, but its final resting place will be beneath a painting by his artist son, which yesterday won the $15,000 Gallipoli Art Prize.
The work, Max Carment, War Veteran, was the last portrait Carment painted of his father before his death. The Sydney artist framed the sock with the painting as a symbol of tenacity and survival.
Now in its third year, the prize recognises artists who capture the spirit of the Gallipoli campaign. Though his father was not a Gallipoli veteran, Carment believes the courage of Australia's wartime prisoners matched that of the soldiers who fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula. "When I was a child, my father didn't speak very much about his experiences during the war, but little by little you piece it together," Carment said yesterday at Sydney's Gallipoli Memorial Club. He only just survived Sandakan, and he nearly died in Kuching. We know he had his appendix taken out without general anaesthetic by one of the doctors in camp. Growing up, those stories were always present in the background."
Max sat for the painting in his Sydney home and saw the work before his death.
ŠThe Age, Australia