Common bonds
02 November 2012
Veterans respond to Warriors of the Plains - A new display of artwork and interviews offers visitors a contemporary insight into warrior societies of the past. Once a Warrior presents the responses of current and former West-Country based servicemen and women to Warriors of the Plains, the British Museum exhibition about Native American warrior societies currently showing at RAMM.
One soldier turned the uniform he was wearing when he was shot in Afghanistan into an art piece; a former Women’s Royal Air Force fighter controller sewed blankets decorated with military symbols; and an artist with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) made a film in which he fights and conquers the beast of the post-traumatic stress disorder that he has carried since the Falklands War.
A digital presentation is accompanied by a rotating selection of their artwork; their insights serve as a bridge for the better understanding of the personal codes that have guided military societies across centuries, continents and cultures.
Funded by Arts Council England, Once a Warrior is a RAMM partnership with Aftermath PTSD (http://aftermathptsd.co.uk/), a group offering arts involvement to people suffering combat-related stress.
