As you walk through Ben Quilty鈥檚 exhibition, After Afghanistan, you鈥檙e initially struck by the stares looking back at you. With only a few strokes of thick paint, portrays the sadness, the furrowed brows and the ten-mile-gaze of the eleven soldiers he painted.
Quilty was commissioned by The Australian War Memorial to depict Afghanistan under the聽, first established聽during the First World War to record and interpret the Australian experience of war. The scheme was reactivated during the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
This rich tradition of official commissions has included works by major Australian artists Arthur Streeton, George Lambert, Donald Friend and Nora Heysen, and occupies a unique position in the history of Australian art.
After receiving the initial phone call, it was only five weeks before Quilty was deployed to Afghanistan to record and interpret the experiences of Australians as part of Operation Slipper in Kabul, Kandahar, Tarin Kot in Afghanistan and Al Minhad Airbase in the United Arab Emirates. During his聽first night at the base, they were rocketed three times – Quilty was the first to admit that he was out of his element.
Paintings: Ben Quilty
Quilty was adamant that he would not let the soldiers stereotype him as an artist as much as he didn鈥檛 want to stereotype the soldiers. This enabled him聽to quickly form strong relationships with some of the soldiers. With this closeness, the group opened up to Quilty and allowed the emotionally raw paintings to unfold.
The paintings are initially confronting.聽The unfocused gazes and bodies strewn in relaxed positions make you question if the subjects are portrayed as dead or alive. Quilty didn鈥檛 want to paint the soldiers in their uniforms, as he wanted them to be seen for their core emotions and nothing more.
The point of conversation for this exhibition is written across the face of every person portrayed:聽Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Research Assistant from the Faculty of Health Sciences,聽Petra Skeffington,聽spoke about her work with patients suffering from the condition,聽in relation to Quilty鈥檚 exhibition.
鈥淚 felt like seeing the exhibition would help me see what war was like, but it doesn’t”聽Skeffington says. Instead, she says, 鈥渋t gives you what that person felt in that moment –聽not what they felt in the next moment, in the next year,聽聽or five years.鈥�
Paintings: Ben Quilty
Skeffington is interested in the resiliency of people. She explores trauma and PTSD with a special interest in people such as soldiers, police officers and
firefighters who intentionally choose a profession which puts them into high-risk situations day in and day out.
Skeffington says that people 鈥渃an experience trauma and bounce back to be stronger and better people than they were before.”
In order for that to happen, symptoms of PTSD and trauma need to be identified, and this is where exhibitions like Quilty鈥檚 are important.
Skeffington states that in her work, she has seen and treated soldiers across the spectrum of trauma –聽some who didn鈥檛 even know what PTSD was while others understood that they were showing signs of PTSD and sought help. She聽states that it鈥檚 considerably easier to treat symptomatically traumatised聽people when they聽are aware and willing to seek help as opposed to those that believe there鈥檚 no need for help.
Quilty’s emphasis on the soldiers’聽psychological聽聽self, rather聽than their physical attributes, made the images confronting for many of the subjects.聽For once, they weren鈥檛 just another uniformed soldier –聽their fears, concerns and joys portrayed as starkly as their naked bodies.
Air Commodore John Oddie sat for three of Quilty鈥檚 paintings and was particularly struck by the way he was captured, 鈥渆ither through a lack of insight or unwillingness, I wasn鈥檛 always admitting the truth to myself about my life,鈥� 聽says Oddie.聽鈥淏en really took that out and put it on the table in front of me like a three course dinner and said 鈥榳ell how 鈥榖out that?鈥� and,聽you know, I sort of thought well I鈥檓 not gonna come back to this restaurant in a hurry.鈥�
Since the exhibition, five out of the eleven soldiers Quilty painted have been diagnosed with PTSD and are being treated. As Petra Skeffington states, PTSD is not a life sentence and people can work through their trauma to become asymptomatic, but that won鈥檛 happen until we start to speak about it openly and honestly.
The exhibition, Ben Quilty: After Afghanistan is showing at the until September 14 2014.
Visit Ben Quilty’s聽for more information about his work.
