Updated: Fri Nov. 06 2009 17:32:23

ctvcalgary.ca

War brides from World War II are being honoured in a new Glenbow Museum exhibit which opens in time for Remembrance Day.

War Brides: One-Way Passage features the work of Calgary artist Bev Tosh.

Tosh helps bring the stories of ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances to life. "Their stories made me shiver, a shiver would run through me and I knew that I was connecting on a bodily level and I couldn't ignore that, I found it too strong to ignore," says Tosh.

Sylvia Hunt's wedding day portrait is one of dozens on display.

Hunt says it was difficult to leave her family behind in England while she moved to Canada to be with her new husband. "My mom came all the way to London with me. She didn't want me to go. She tried to persuade me, right up to the last minute, not to go."

Tosh devoted eight years to the project and was inspired by her own mother who was a war bride from Canada who left after marrying a serviceman from New Zealand. "When my mother turned 80, I did this portrait of her for myself...and that was really the start of it."

The exhibit features wedding day portraits on planks of wood; a WWII parachute with projections of couples on it; as well as a sculpture made of handkerchiefs from war brides embroidered with the names of the ships that brought the women to Canada.

The war brides exhibit will be on display at the Glenbow Museum until February 14th.