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A Soldier's Mirror

Makani Luske
Write About Art 5
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The depiction of war and military combat within contemporary art can put on the table what most soldiers will not put in front of their families. This art genre has the potential to give a profound yet complex reflection of life at war. While there are many social, cultural and political reasons that restrict us from dealing with our experiences or ideas of war, artworks about war allow the public to have an empathetic engagement with the soldier’s experience, and to look into a mirror of their trauma or struggle. This mirror is not distorted by media generated misconceptions of war, or glamourised to create public approval, but rather it strips back the popular portrayal of war. Art possesses the capacity to humanise war by creating relationships that are not normally acknowledged, between the soldier and audience. 

Ben Quilty is one war artist who has ‘humanised’ war in his works. He has successfully stripped back the ideals and glorified imagery of the bravery, the medals, the alliance to one’s country, the nobility of a soldier, and has left a man in a camouflage suit, with only his nightmares, antagonism and qualms. Ben Quilty was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial in 2011 to paint soldiers in Afghanistan. The resulting exhibition ‘After Afghanistan’, which toured Australia, and was featured at the Tweed River Art Gallery, gives a disturbingly raw insight into the mental trauma of soldiers, and underlines the importance of sending artists into war zones. Artworks shown in the exhibition, including Captain S after Afghanistan (2011), give a first hand illustration of what the soldiers experienced in Afghanistan. 

Society does not always recognise how difficult life for a soldier is... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Ben Quilty, Captain S after Afghanistan, 2012

Ben Quilty, Captain S after Afghanistan, 2012. Oil on linen, 210 x 230cm. Courtesy the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane. 

Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851.

Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851. Oil on canvas, 378.5  x  647.7cm. Gift of John Stewart Kennedy, 1897. Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.