eX de Medici, Vilu Military Museum R.T.M. Pt Junior Wantok and Pt Tim (Playboy) Playford (‘Sitting Ducks’ Memorial) Guadalcanal, 2009, watercolour on paper, 38 x 172 cm. Photo: Australian War Memorial.
The Australian Official War Artists scheme, modelled on similar schemes in Britain and Canada, came into being during the First World War. It was revived for the Second World War and then for the wars in Korea and Vietnam. The primary intent was to create a personal visual record of the conflict, typically by an artist embedded with Australian military forces.
As the number of ‘hot’ wars involving Australia declined, in 1999, the scheme was renewed when artists were appointed to depict peacekeeping operations in East Timor (Timor-Leste). Subsequently, artists have been deployed with Australian peacekeeping missions to Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions in the Middle East, and to the Solomon Islands.
Not only did the nature of the conflicts change, but also the choice of artists.
During the First World War, it was an all-male cast of soldier artists. During the Second World War, a few women artists slipped in, including Stella Bowen, Sybil Craig and Norma Heysen. Subsequently, the diversity floodgates opened with a sizeable number of women artists and First Nations artists included into the mix, as well as artists with known anti-war sentiments.
The exhibition at the Australian War Memorial is a cameo show and exhibits a selection of work by Australian Official War artists since 1999. The artists include Tony Albert (Girramay/Kuku Yalanji peoples), Rick Amor, Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, Jon Cattapan, Peter Churcher, Shaun Gladwell, Susan Norrie, eX de Medici, Lewis Miller, Ben Quilty, Wendy Sharpe and Alick Tipoti (Kala Lagaw Ya people).
Canberra artist eX de Medici travelled to the Solomon Islands in March 2009.
In her watercolour drawing, Vilu Military Museum R.T.M. Pt Junior Wantok and Pt Tim (Playboy) Playford (‘Sitting Ducks’ Memorial) Guadalcanal, 2009, that stretches almost two metres across, she presents a panorama of the remnants of war and a feeling of foreboding for the future. She brings together several locations around Guadalcanal and an open-air military museum containing decaying US and Japanese war machines. In the right panel, an Australian and a Tongan soldier kneel by a plaque to HMAS Canberra that was sunk during the battle of Savo Island in 1942. Beyond the plaque lies the foreign-owned Gold Ridge gold-mining operation, which is chewing up the land.
Wendy Sharpe, Christmas Tour of Duty concert, Dili 1999, 2000, oil on canvas, 121 x 137 cm. Photo: Australian War Memorial.
The irrepressible Wendy Sharpe, in her Christmas Tour of Duty concert, Dili, 1999, captures Kylie Minogue and musicians performing for the Australian peacekeepers at the Christmas ‘Tour of Duty’ concert in Dili, East Timor.
Sharpe observed in her notes, “I managed to talk my way into the backstage area. It was even hotter than where I was sitting, surrounded by black plastic. I didn’t have enough water with me and nearly passed out, but I still managed to draw. It was well worth it!” Energy, vibrance and sensuality pulsate in the scene that she has depicted.
Rick Amor, Study for ‘The cathedral, Suai’, 1999, oil on canvas, 25 x 17 cm. acquired under the Official War Art Scheme in 2000. Photo: Australian War Memorial.
In contrast, Rick Amor, in his oil sketch, Study for ‘The cathedral, Suai’, 1999, brings a sombre note to the scene as does Peter Churcher in his small oil painting Sleeping guy in “Helo” (helicopter), HMAS Kanimbla, 2002. One is reminded of the old aphorism concerning army life, that it consists of 95 per cent boredom and 5 per cent terror.
Other artists, including the duo Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, and Jon Cattapan, enter the realm of night vision and depict a world outside the experience of those who have not served in the military.
The artists assembled in the Critical Witness exhibition not only record and witness what they have experienced, but some may also be critical of what they are witnessing.
Peter Churcher, Sleeping guy in “Helo” (helicopter), HMAS Kanimbla, 2002, oil on hardboard, 17 x 26 cm. Photo: Australian War Memorial
Critical Witness: Official war artists after 1999 is at the Australian War Memorial, level 1, from 10 am to 4 pm. Admission is free. No closing date for the exhibition has been announced.
