Triage: An Artist in Kandahar

© copyright Karen Bailey, all rights reserved

Recently, Picasso's 1949 book illustrations for “Carmen” came to my mind. They are quite amazing – showing scenes from the novella by Prosper Mérimée (later adapted into the famous opera) with wonderful portraits of Carmen and of course Picasso's characteristic minotaur. A wonderful book.

It's also a great example for interdisciplinary 'cross-fertilization' of visual arts and literature. Now I encountered a project that went the opposite way, so to speak: first were the paintings and than the literature. The School of Music poets responsed to “Triage: An Artist in Kandahar”, an exhibition of paintings by artist Karen Bailey. Karen Bailey's astonishing paintings which she created when she was a volunteer appointed military artist with the Canadian Military Forces at the Role 3 Hospital, Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, were the starting point for a group of Australian poets. Their aim is to “explore the relationship between poetry, music and other art forms by providing a wide variety of rich artistic experiences”. Now the impressive poems about Bailey's paintings were published online and in print.

Karen Bailey's Artist Statement:

Poets and painters share a similar history in documenting war. Without the efforts of artists the human story of war would never be memorialised; for generations poets have written about the effects of conflict, history books are filled with images depicting war.

The poems here are moving, the compassion shown is palpable. It’s as if each poet was with me during my experiences in Kandahar. You have been able to put into words what I can only say with paint. I feel privileged to be part of this collaboration with the poets of Canberra, Australia.

Karen Bailey, December 2013


Facts:
Link to the publication: http://sompoets.wordpress.com/projects/response-to-triage/
Link to Karen Bailey: http://www.karenbailey.ca/