DICK AVERNS
CAAF Residency st[art]@Art Central, January – March 2009
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part the Department of National Defence Canadian Forces Artists Program, Dick Averns will be working on a visual art and writing project engaging the War on Terror, War Art Now.
The aim of War Art Now is to highlight how official war art – government or military sponsored programs – can provide an important benchmark for understanding how art and military activity can re-frame the War on Terror. This will include examining official war art – government or military sponsored programs – alongside projects not necessarily commissioned or controlled by the Forces, including propaganda, photo journalism and personal accounts from home and abroad.
War Art Now will incorporate multiple perspectives from different cultures, particularly via the inclusion of images and text from news media, the front lines and personal accounts. To facilitate this, Dick will be holding weekly drop in sessions and workshops for members of the public to share their own visual ideas and writing. If you are in the forces, a veteran, part of a family of military or aid-workers, have a creative or cultural perspective, or topical interest, please consider visiting.
War Art Now will enable audiences old and young the opportunity to take a contemporary and timely look at how art may re-calibrate conflict. The end result will bring into focus how different nations either enable or disable conflict-related cultural canons.