My first OCA study visit was to this exhibition, which featured the work of six artists responding ‘to modern warfare through the medium of photography’. The contributions made by the artists were very diverse and all of them approached conflict and warfare in a more indirect fashion than conventional war photographers.
Les Monaghan presenting
Jamie Simonds reflected in Richard Monje’s work
Matthew Andrew’s work entitled Constructs centered on civilians playing war games and the environments in which they do so. This is an interesting concept in that they are authentic images of something that is fake! Having said that it was clear that the participants of these simulated war games went to great lengths to make the games that they played as realistic as possible. This included the environments in which they played them, which had been altered for that purpose.
Woodland 2 – Matthew Andrew
Olivia Hollamby provided what I thought was a brilliant insight into the human, personal and more mundane aspects of warfare in her collection of photographs entitled Homefront. This consisted of snapshot images taken by her non-photographer partner, who had been deployed to Afghanistan, whilst she took contemporaneous images of her life in the UK.
Homefront – Olivia Hollamby
Les Monaghan’s work consisted of images of RAF personnel during survival training in North Yorkshire using voyeuristic technique – the subjects had been told beforehand that they could not interact with him in any way. The shadowy woods, distant figures and lack of any clues as to when these photographs were taken given them a timeless, dislocating and rather sister feel. The artist himself states that ‘these images represent humankind’s apparent need to control nature and eternally prepare for war’ but the photographs conveyed menace and suspicion to me rather than that.
From the Forest – Les Monaghan
Jamie Simonds series of photographs entitled In-transit were shot in Atlanta airport in 2010 during a storm which delayed all flights. Jamie and his wife were on their way to their honeymoon whereas the soldiers he encountered at the airport were being re-deployed to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan having had a 2 week mid-deployment holiday. The tension and anxiety, together with pride and professionalism, show in a number of their faces and poses. The contrast between what they expect from their destination and what the artist expects from his is obvious and poignant – they know that there is no certainty that they will return home alive.
In-transit – Jamie Simonds
Christopher Down spent a year producing a series of images derived from working with three servicemen during their training. Central to this work was the contrast between the idyll (hence ‘Arcadia’) of rural England and the perennial need to train soldiers for war.
Visions from Arcadia – Christopher Down
Richard Monje, who unfortunately could not be present, presented a series of images of fired bullets that had subsequently been recovered by British servicemen. The images were printed large and were attractive as abstract images. Without captions, there was little clue as to what they actually were. Their attractiveness, shot on a black background, contrasted with the purpose for which they had been made.
Afghan bullet series – Richard Monje
Following the artists’ talks (and tea) we had a group discussion, which was the first time that I had discussed art (or any other type of photography). This was wide-ranging and included whether the title of the exhibition was appropriate (we agreed that it wasn’t entirely), the politicisation of war and photography, the fact that photographs can be artistically but not commercially successful and vice versa and what is art.
This was an enjoyable visit and a unique experience for me. The glue that held together the diverse photographs for me was a feeling of discomfort. Discomfort not in the predictable way that war photographs produce (these were not war photographs, despite the exhibition’s title) but in the poignancy of the contrast seen in the series of images: nature vs war, home vs frontline life, recognisable vs unrecognisable, joy vs fear and beauty vs death.
Intu Shopping Centre, Watford the same day – coincidence or conspiracy?
People & Place 