An innovative artist-driven exhibition retracing the path of ANZAC forces during the World War II campaigns in Greece and Crete will officially open this month.

A collaboration between twelve Australian and New Zealand artists, photographers, historians and filmmakers, LUSTRE – Australian Artists in Greece and Crete, takes its name from the WWII Australian military troops known as “Lustre Force.” The exhibition will predominately feature paintings and photography, alongside metal works and archival material from the period. 

The project follows a two-week research tour across Greece, in October last year, where the artists visited significant sites including Thessaloniki, the Florina region, Vevi Pass, Brallos Pass, Mount Olympia, Athens, and Corinth, before heading to Crete to retrace key campaigns and battles. 

The journey was guided by military historian Brad Manera of the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney, who provided historical context to locations central to the 1941 campaigns. Following the tour, all artists continued developing work in their studios, preparing to present Australian audiences with their interpretations of this chapter of history.

The exhibition unites contemporary reflections on landscape, memory and the layered histories that connect Greece and Australia.  

The 12 artists involved in this self-funded initiative each bring a personal dimension to the work. Many are of Greek heritage or have family connections to soldiers who served during the Second World War.

Among them is Sydney-based artist Natalie O’Connor Leontaris, who shared with The Greek Herald her deeply personal connection to the project, the places and her heritage — all of which she channelled into her artwork. 

Leontaris’ grandmother was from Chios and her grandfather was Greek Cypriot. On her mother’s side, her family is Anglo-Australian and her grandfather fought as an ANZAC in the Second World War. 

“I had grown up listening to his stories, and I was really well aware that my Yiayia was a refugee from the island of Chios after World War II. My position was one of having two cultural stories to tell but it became really important to me that I was telling the stories of the people of Greece while I was there,” she said.

Ahead of the tour, Leontaris had spent time on Chios, where she was confronted by the island’s history, describing her involvement in the project as a “visceral” experience.

With a background in colour representation through landscape, Leontaris “wanted the colours to speak about the history” of the campaigns. 

“I tried to create work that brought to light both the stories of those who had to fight, the soldiers that were there, Greek and Australian, but also the people who were left behind — the people in the villages, the trauma that it left to the people — and also the landscape,” she told The Greek Herald.

She didn’t want her work to be depressing or angry, but rather to celebrate the beauty of the landscape and the strength and resilience within it. 

Brallos Pass stood out to Leontaris, who was struck by its layered history — from the Spartan hero King Leondias to the ANZACs — as well as the personal resonance of sharing a surname connected to the Spartan king. 

Leontaris said her connection to the Greek language growing up was limited, but the project inspired her to begin learning it.

“It’s a really important way to understand the histories of Greece,” she said. “Even at 57, I never think you’re too old to not learn a language.

“Understanding no matter what, those histories that were there, they are in me and I’m hoping that other [Australians] who go to Greece… [will be] aware that there’s this bond between Greeks and Australians that really has been forged during this period.”

Additional participating artists include Euan Macleod, Steve Lopes, Rodney Pople, Deirdre Bean, Amanda Penrose Hart, Joanna Logue, Michelle Hiscock, Riste Andrieviski (photographer), Michael Bradfield (photographer and film maker), Alan Jones, and Angeliki Androutsopoulos.

A documentary by Michael Bradfield will be screened at the official opening on May 22 at the ANZAC Hyde Park Memorial in Sydney. The documentary explores each of the twelve artists’ stories and their connection to the project before, during and after the tour. 

Following its opening, LUSTRE will tour nationally with scheduled showings at Mudgee Arts Precinct, Gosford Regional Art Gallery, Rocky Hill Memorial and The Hellenic Museum in Melbourne, with plans to present the exhibition in Greece. Each exhibition will be accompanied by a detailed catalogue featuring forewords from Australia’s Ambassador to Greece Alison Duncan, art historian and critic Christopher Allen and military historian Brad Manera. 

By revisiting the shared wartime history of Greece and Australia through contemporary art, LUSTRE offers an impactful reflection on remembrance, identity and enduring bonds between the two nations, ensuring these stories continue to resonate with future generations through art.