Into the Valley: Scenes of an Afghan Conflict

Official War Artist Jules George discusses works from his tour of Afghanistan in 2010, considering the roles of artistic influence, familial inheritance, and the impression of works in York Art Gallery.  This event is presented in association with York Art Gallery and the Centre for Modern Studies.

In his work, Jules is concerned to make connections through his experiences with past generations, and has been prompted to think about his father, who served in Aden, and his grandfather who was in the trenches on the Western Front. In reliving the memories of his family, Jules has been creating his own interconnected history through his art.

Alongside the recent purchase of his work by York Art Gallery, Jules recorded some interviews with Jenny Alexander in which he considers the relevance of work in the gallery, specifically 'Return to the Front', by Richard Jack (1919) and how this reignited memories of the trenches told to him by his grandfather, and how Jack’s representation relates to his own work.  One of the issues he explores is the feelings of the soldiers as they head off to the front.  How do they experience war?  John Keegan writes in The Face of Battle that despite his own extensive research into, and teaching of, military history, he has absolutely no understanding of what a soldier on active service goes through physically or psychologically.

In his work as a modern war artist, Jules is also reaching back to war artists of previous generations and through the very real physicality of his experiences connecting with their history of reportage. He is conscious of the juxtaposition of the horror of war set against the stunning beauty of the landscape and the serenity of the Afghans, evoking memories of previous British incursions in the same region. Jules also talks about how a sketch or painting can uniquely capture aspects of warfare, lending an almost meditative quality to the work for both artist and viewer, a quality missing in photography.