Mathilde Fenger, a Danish artist known primarily for her classical oil paintings, explores life in Afghanistan through her paintings exhibited at Politikens Hus gallery in Copenhagen.
The exhibition, which opened in August, looks at the social conditions, patrols, field hospitals, and troops the artist encountered during her 17-day stay at Camp Bastion, a British military base in Helmand Province, and Camp Price in 2010. The exhibition is the result of over two thousand photographs and sketches.
Fenger wanted to portray the situation in Afghanistan as an important historical event and shed light on a war that tears apart the lives of many civilians. Some of her works include bloody representations of a community soaked in the realities of war.
Though at times drastic in its thematic content, Fenger's paintings reach a touching aesthetic realisation in which the harsh reality is entwined with cultural elements of the community represented. In some paintings, interaction between soldiers and local people is underlined. At other times, while portraying utopian-like realities, Fenger creates moving disparities, such as soldiers walking though the fields of flowers, an image contrasting with their military mission.
(ahram)
The exhibition, which opened in August, looks at the social conditions, patrols, field hospitals, and troops the artist encountered during her 17-day stay at Camp Bastion, a British military base in Helmand Province, and Camp Price in 2010. The exhibition is the result of over two thousand photographs and sketches.
Fenger wanted to portray the situation in Afghanistan as an important historical event and shed light on a war that tears apart the lives of many civilians. Some of her works include bloody representations of a community soaked in the realities of war.
Though at times drastic in its thematic content, Fenger's paintings reach a touching aesthetic realisation in which the harsh reality is entwined with cultural elements of the community represented. In some paintings, interaction between soldiers and local people is underlined. At other times, while portraying utopian-like realities, Fenger creates moving disparities, such as soldiers walking though the fields of flowers, an image contrasting with their military mission.
(ahram)
Source : Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), International Service
