Karen Bailey’s self portrait depicts her flight in a Hercules plane from Dubai to Kanadahar in 2007. This piece and many others are featured in the upcoming “A Brush With War” exhibit at the CWM.
Starting this month, the Canadian War Museum will open its doors to “A Brush with War,” an exhibition highlighting art from the Korean War to the current military operation in Afghanistan.
The exhibition, which has been touring since 2009, begins its stop in Ottawa Dec. 10.
“What we have in the exhibition is a snapshot of what happened between 1946 and 2008,” says Laura Brandon, curator of the exhibition.
“A Brush with War” which will showcase 64 pieces, mostly paintings, from various Canadian artists documenting Canadian military experiences at home and overseas.
In 2001, the Canadian Forces Artists Program was established, which sends civilian artists abroad to observe and record military missions. CFAP was a replacement to the previous Canadian Armed Forces Civilians Art Program.
All of the artists featured in the exhibition have been a part of either CFAP or CAFCAP.
Karen Bailey, a CFAP volunteer, travelled to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2007.
Her featured work “Self-Portrait in Hercules” depicts her on the flight from Dubai to Kandahar in what she calls a “traumatic” experience.
Bailey was crammed on the small plane with about 70 soldiers, and had to wear a helmet and a 14-kilogram vest.
It was her introduction to military life, and she says it gave her a clear sense of the harsh reality a Canadian soldier faces.
“For someone who has never been exposed to the military, it was a big shock,” says Bailey. Being there “was like nothing I had ever experienced before.”
According to Brandon, the feeling of shock is common for many military artists. She says it’s often difficult for military artists to transition from painting still-life images and landscapes to the completely different world of a war zone.
“You have to not only come to terms with what you are depicting, but learn how to depict it,” says Brandon.
Also featured in the exhibition is “The Parade,” a 13-panel installation by Karole Marois. It shows images of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, which Marois attended as a CFAP volunteer.
Marois says her military art is her own way to remember the sacrifices made by Canadian veterans.
Bailey agrees, adding that “military art is one way of memorializing the unsung heroes.”
However, military art is sometimes not considered “mainstream,” says Bailey, and therefore is not always easy to get shown.
She says this is perhaps because some venues may struggle with the artistic link to controversial military operations.
“It’s easier for people to support it if it was something we did fifty or sixty years ago. But we are still very much living war today,” says Bailey.
To Bailey, the exhibition is a welcome shift from the two 20th century world wars, which she says immediately comes to mind for people when they hear “war paintings.”
“It’s so important that people know that war does not just stop with the Second World War,” says Bailey.
The Brush with War exhibition is scheduled to run until March 20, 2011.