Trench misery recreated
He has had a long and successful acting career, including such titles as The Hobbit and Pork Pie, but today Dean O’Gorman wallows in mud.
The actor pulls a sledgehammer above his head and teenage boys watch as it comes smashing down on a pile of dirty bricks. The debris roll into mud pool oblivion and O’Gorman chuckles. The more mess, the better.
For the last 10 years, O’Gorman has been splitting his time between acting and photography. This is another one of those photography projects, involving recreating his own Passchendaele battlefield next to Auckland Airport.
It follows on from a documentary in which O’Gorman investigates the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele. Records show 843 New Zealanders died within a few hours.
O’Gorman is now looking to recreate the scenes, in tribute. He has dug up a farm, a friend’s property near the airport. The trenches have become grotty, muddy pools and O’Gorman expects his mostly young models to get in them.