Following years of work 3D scanning the inscriptions and carvings left by Canadian soldiers inside the Maison Blanche tunnels near Vimy, the CANADIGM Group produced full scale replicas of 20 of the carvings which became the featured displays in an exhibit titled ‘The Souterrain Impressions’. The exhibit was made up of 20 self-standing ‘modules’, each highlighting one carving and the soldier who created it, along with an interactive multimedia kiosk, wall maps, graphic panels depicting the life of a typical Canadian leading up to the First World War, and “touch & feel” display panels that duplicate carvings for a tactile experience. Each module contained one or more of the reproduced images or carvings, protected in an enclosed Lexan display case. Included were photos of the soldiers who created them (wherever possible) and short biographies.
As a number of the more prominent carvings in Maison Blanche which they chose to reproduce were made by men of the 15th Battalion, the 15th Battalion Memorial Project provided assistance to CANADIGM in the form of biographical information on the men who made the carvings and the men whose names appeared in the tunnels carvings and inscriptions. Additionally, when the exhibit went on its Canadian and international tour starting in 2016, the Memorial Project provided assistance in the form of display panels and mannequins dressed in period 15th Battalion uniforms. The exhibit toured Canada (Ottawa, Mississauga, Montreal), the United States (Washington), France (Vimy) and the UK (London) in 2016 and 2017.
