Dear people,

I want to thank so many people for their support and sacrifice over the past 14 years. Too many people to mention right now. Once again. My sincere thanks!

I agree with the words of Martin Luther King.

‘I refuse to assume that humanity is so tragically tied to the starless midnight of racism and war. I refuse to assume that the bright dawn of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.’

I have imagined this peace and brotherhood here in Zonnebeke and laid it down for eternity.

In 2008 my friend Henk Claeys introduced me to Johan. Johan told me with a lot of emotion the story about the brothers John and Jim Hunter. Like everyone who heard this story, I was also very moved. Spontaneously, I suggested to Johan that he design a unique memorial for the two brothers. I told him that a memorial should be created for this unique story and that I wanted to design it for him. And so it came to pass.

Before starting the design of the memorial, I wrote a fictional letter to Jim Hunter. In this letter, I give Jim courage, comfort and a hopeful prediction of the future. The hopeful future that one day artists will realize a special memorial to reunite him with his beloved brother John.

Before I heard the story of John Hunter, there was Sören Hawkes, an English visual artist living in Ypres. He was the first artist who drew the tragic moment of John’s death in Jim’s arms. Sören’s drawing is a silent expression of his compelling grief at the loss of his young brother.

My design for this memorial also arose from my grief for the loss of my only sister. A design that ensures that people can come to their senses in a modest way. To then find the strength again to reconcile and connect with each other. Here on earth and in eternity.

It is obvious. The design for the Brothers In Arms Memorial arose from my belief that comforting and contemplative visual art and landscape art can only arise from the personal experience of grief or from a very deep empathy of the artist himself. The memorial is the silent expression of this.

When I received the drawing from Sören Hawkes from Johan, I integrated it into my design as an ‘image’. Initially, the design consisted of a tunnel building. Later, the design evolved into what it has become today, in which the flanking beech avenues will form a green tunnel in the future.

In the design I visually connect the figurative image of the two brothers with my designed abstract image of the two brothers in the form of two intertwined rings in the large ‘Standing Stone’. The two rings symbolize the eternal reunion of the two brothers.

The figurative artwork and the abstract artwork are separated from each other by a very long desolate path. A long bluestone path in the shape of a socle where the two works of art are located at the ends. The 66-meter path symbolizes the long desolate path that Jim walked throughout his life. A desolate life, in which he had to miss his beloved brother John.

Also striking are the two long steps that provide access to the base of the memorial. They are deliberately detached from the plinth and feature split Belgian bluestone on the sides. This gives them the appearance of something material, a carpet. They symbolise red carpets that have been laid there to allow visitors to step onto the long plinth with the utmost respect. This puts visitors in a subdued mood even before they step onto the long plinth.

The minimalist landscape art created by the tight design, the uniform use of materials and the surrounding uniform planting of beech avenues ensures that the beautiful bronze sculpture is given the museum setting it deserves.

The two flanking avenues of beech trees along the long bluestone plinth will give the memorial a cathedral effect in many years’ time. The trunks will form the columns of a cathedral. The branches the vault. The green cathedral effect will give the memorial the necessary sense of security and create a horizontal spiritual tunnel effect between the figurative and abstract sculptures. Between war and peace, between life and death and the ultimate eternal union. The branches of the flanking shady beech avenues will slowly but steadily grow to the edge of the long bluestone plinth. As a result, a skylight will be created above the long plinth in the future, through which light will enter. The light falling on the long plinth will allow visitors a spiritual experience as the memorial will function as an ‘Axis Mundi’. A central line in the landscape, a ‘landmark’. A sanctuary that, in addition to the ‘horizontal’ spiritual tunnel effect, will also symbolise a ‘vertical’ spiritual connection between heaven and earth.

The figurative image on the monument was adopted as a concept by the famous Australian sculptor Louis Laumen. He interpreted the drawing very personally and cast it in a beautiful three-dimensional bronze sculpture. It was Johan’s wish that the sculpture came from Australia. The origin of the sculpture symbolizes the return of the two Australian brothers to Zonnebeke to be united forever in the memorial.

The refined detailing of the figurative sculpture forms an interesting contrast with the minimalism of the long path of the memorial and the abstract sculpture in the form of the two bronze rings.

I asked letter artist Stéphanie Busard to provide the memorial with letter art. Very special is her design of the epigram with the text ‘Brothers In Arms’ by Mark Knopfler, lead singer of Dire Straits. Such an epigram is not new. We find it in every major period throughout history. From antiquity to now. The letters are grouped in a unique way. They refer to the feeling of togetherness, of brotherhood, which transcends the individual. They refer to the repetitiveness of the countless names carved on war graves and monuments. Stéphanie cut the letters into the ‘Standing Stones’ with here own hands.

It is part of the Anglo-Saxon tradition that lyrics and songs are passed on. They always have their own language and form. Lyrics are plastic entities, meant to be passed on to the next generations.

Dear people,

The architect Adolf Loos once said: ‘Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the grave and the monument. Everything else that fulfills a function must be excluded from the domain of art.’

So we can say that the ‘Brothers In Arms Memorial’ belongs to the arts. It has become a total work of art. A total work of art where my landscape art enters into a beautiful international marriage with the fine arts of the English artists Sören Hawkes and Mark Knopfler, the Belgian artist Stéphanie Busard and the Australian artist Louis Laumen. It is an honor for me that your beautiful work has been integrated into my design.

Dear people,

The Brothers In Arms Memorial presents the ritual of remembrance in a way we have long forgotten. What we no longer realize enough in our contemporary profane or secular society is that this is about a diachronic need. A never-gone need of man or rather of mankind for places where the ritual can take place. A holy place was laid here. A holy place for everyone who wants to spread peace and connection among all people.

Speech at the inauguration of the Brothers In Arms Memorial, Andy Malengier, 25 September 2022

Findings

Greetings Andy,

That was (is) an unforgettable experience and I was awe struck by the thought and complexity that you incorporated into the memorial. Everything is so coordinated and representative, yet also invokes a great sense of peace, such that it seems perfect. It gave me goosebumps and I must return to see it again. I have since looked at your website and you appear to have a knack of creating both open and closed spaces totally appropriate to the situation. I’m proud to have met you.

Anthony Attwood