I am humbled and grateful that the organiser of the 'By the Left' campaign and other female veterans, who marched in solidarity on ANZAC Day last year around Australia, have banded together to purchase my painting: 'By the Left, Eyes Right!'
The ladies have pooled their resources to buy the painting and have it framed on behalf of the Women Veterans Network Australia. It will be on display at their conference in Brisbane over the weekend of International Women's Day.
The 'By the Left' campaign inspired me to paint this portrait of myself and three of my strong, courageous Army officer friends marching on Anzac Day, with whom I have also deployed alongside at various times.
The eyes right represents us as I imagined we may have been marching together during the 'By the Left’ initiative at 2018’s ANZAC day marches, however, we were separated across the miles in Canberra, Darwin and Aix-en-Provence (France).
I included the quote from the movie ‘The Testament of Youth’ to represent the losses we have all suffered in our lives; including my father - an RNZIR Vietnam Veteran who died of cancer aged 56, and other military colleagues and friends killed on operations or lost through suicide.
I was trying to channel Dali’s surrealist style with the ghostly background images, which are derived from photos from my operational deployments and my father’s slides from his deployment with W3 Coy to Vietnam.
This painting holds a lot of meaning and sentimentality for me and I didn't think I would actually sell it - due to the subject matter being so deeply personal.
However, the WVNA ladies completely understood the significance of the painting and felt that it captured what 'By the Left' was about - ie: influencing the public’s perception of what a veteran looks like and supporting each other on an Australian veteran’s sacred day - ANZAC Day.
The ghostly images in the painting also resonated with a number of the veterans, as these details captured the hidden struggles many of them face.
You can read more about the 'By the Left' campaign here:
Spoiler alert: It wasn't a feminist issue, it was raising awareness that contemporary veterans no longer look like the stereotypical old, Caucasian, ex-infantry soldiers of wars past.
This artwork was a top 35 finalist in the inaugural Napier Waller Art Prize at the Australian War Memorial in 2018. You can read more about the prize in my other blog posts.
Oil on Stretched Canvas
60.96 x 91.44 x 3.81 (24 x 36 x 1.5 inches)
