Hay Festival 2015 // Sara Bevan

Sara Bevan from the Imperial War Museum asks how do contemporary artists engage with conflict?

“We now live in a permanent state of emergency,” said Sara Bevan, asking “So, how do artists engage with conflict in a way that is different to the dramatic spectacle you see on the news?” Artists provide a perspective on conflict that is unattainable for photojournalists, explained Bevan, the curator of art at the Imperial War Museum. In the contemporary sphere, where citizen journalists publicise images of war with a sense of absolute immediacy, war artists benefit from hindsight.

 

“That is not to say art sugar-coats conflict and makes it more comfortable.” Bevan explained that works on display in the Imperial War Museum’s contemporary art collection represent a divergence from the institution’s viewpoint; “It is more reflecting, dissenting and politically provocative. It must probe and unpick these ideas of conflict.” It also offers a more emotionally charged entrance point to a subject matter of global importance on a political and human level. “Artists aim to stand outside the media,” Bevan said. This is particularly apparent in works by artists who have first-hand experience of conflict, like Schmul Dresner whose ghostly portraits of people he encountered during his imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp avoid traditional  figurative representations. Dresner claims this flat visual narrative could never correspond to the terrible realities he saw.

 

Bevan’s new book, Art from Contemporary Conflict, compiles artworks from the last 35 years, a period of history rife with strife. From Steve McQueen and the conflict in Afghanistan to Paul Seawright and the troubles in Northern Ireland, the book follows a discourse of loss, death and the fetishism of weaponry and violence.

 

Bevan said, “The label of war artist has become more problematic due to the traditional connotations.” But she explained war artists have increasing independence and much of their work is satirical. Bevan references Kennard Phillips, an art duo who shot to fame for their left-wing imagery commenting on the Iraq war. She described these war artists as, “The visual arm of protest.” Dissemination of these politically motivated works is key; the duo dismiss artistic claims of ownership and copyright by making their works widely available online. Their main aim is to relay a message. This is a common goal among contemporary war artists.

 

This attitude of non-conformity is refreshing after the First and Second World Wars, in which commissioned artworks had a distinct edge of propaganda. “Particularly over the last 25 years,” Bevan said, “the work being produced has become more probing and more challenging.” 

 

 

Photo: Dan Briston
Text: Francesca Donovan