H-Hour, Normandy 1944 presents the latest series of work by photographer Leslie Hossack. This story starts on June 6th, 1944 when Canadian troops landed on Juno Beach at 7:45, H-Hour. It goes on to explore structural remains of the Atlantic Wall – giant bunkers and fortifications, now largely hidden by the blowing sands of the D-Day beaches. It also commemorates individual grave markers of the soldiers killed in 1944 and buried in the Canadian, British, American and German military cemeteries scattered throughout Normandy. Hossack’s photographs examine places of memory and commemoration associated with Operation Overlord, the Normandy Campaign of June - August 1944. The story is then further elaborated and personalized through reproductions of treasured handwritten letters and dreaded official telegrams that “regret to inform.” Leslie Hossack is a creative storyteller who allows the narrative of D-Day and H-Hour to take shape slowly and cumulatively. By exploring the human experience of loss in war within this exhibition, she leaves us with more questions than answers. This catalogue of Leslie Hossack’s work is divided into four sections: Juno Beach, Atlantic Wall, Official Telegrams, and War Graves. The book also includes her personal writings, as well as David Bercuson‘s foreword, curatorial essays by Joanne Stober and Lindsey Sharman, and an annotated list of further reading related to H-Hour, Normandy 1944.
Lindsey V. Sharman Curator, Founders’ Gallery The Military Museums, Calgary