A ''powerful and evocative'' sculpture has set foot in Dunedin.
Dunedin born and raised artist Helen Pollock, of Auckland, installed her sculptural work Victory Medal at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum yesterday.
The work includes 36 pairs of feet standing on a rusted steel ''medal'' in four sections and is about the horror of World War 1.
''All these feet - the size of a small platoon - their bodies are gone [after] being blown apart.''
The ''sinewed'' feet were moulded from rough unprocessed New Zealand clay into a ''cohesive fighting force, just like the soldiers from the provinces'', Mrs Pollock said.
The work explored the idea of victory, with a pair of feet cast in bronze as a ''recognised hero'' - a soldier with a Victoria Cross.
Despite a soldier being occasionally recognised with medals, all the soldiers were heroes, as were the families dealing with the ''psychologically and physically destroyed'' soldiers who returned home, she said.
The idea for the work came after Mrs Pollock investigated a relative's part in the war as a signaller in 1918, she said.
The sculpture would be on tour in New Zealand, Belgium and France during four years of centenary commemorations including three battle sites - Arras, France in 2016 to commemorate the New Zealand tunnellers at Arras; Messines, Belgium in 2017 to commemorate the Battle of Messines; and Le Quesnoy, France in 2018 to commemorate the liberation of Le Quesnoy by the New Zealand Division.
The work would be on display at Toitu until May 1.
Toitu visitor experience manager Kirst Glengarry said the ''powerful and evocative'' work would complement the Dunedin's Great War exhibition.
