‘‘Up the Blue'' contains seven drawings from Invercargill artist Greg Lewis, which were inspired by photographs and images collected by his grandfathers, Richard Ferris and Norman Lewis, during their time fighting in North Africa between 1940 and 1943.
Both men survived that and other conflicts and returned home with unshakeable memories and recollections, later passed on to the likes of Greg Lewis.
Mr Ferris is still alive and aged 97 while Mr Lewis died in 1999.
Their mutual grandson, Greg Lewis, has always been interested in war and especially the stories from his grandfathers and others.
The grandfathers travelled abroad in the same ship and both served close to each other, with Mr Ferris in the 4th Field Regiment and Mr Lewis working in the Divisional Calvary.
They would rarely talk about the war but occasionally ‘‘opened up'' to talk about their mates, the atmosphere and what the war meant to them.
Over the years, Greg Lewis uncovered images, photographs and Mr Ferris' detailed war diaries which prompted him to create a large exhibition of drawings, recreating those pictures and words.
The entire exhibition has since been reduced in size and a ‘‘reduced'' version was on display at the Waiouru army camp.
Another version was exhibited at the recently opened Riverton Museum.
It was at the opening of that Southland museum where Owaka director Kaaren Mitcalfe approached Greg Lewis about bringing it to the Catlins.
‘‘I thought, with Anzac Day here, it was an appropriate time to show off this great work,'' she said.
The exhibition opens today from 1pm to 4pm and will be at Owaka for the next two months.
