The Politics of Artists in War Zones

What exactly is contemporary war art in the West today? This book considers the place of contemporary war art in the 2020s, a whole generation after 9/11 and long past the ‘War on Terror’.Exploring the role contemporary art plays within conversations around war and imperialism, the book brings together chapters from international contemporary artists, theorists and curators, alongside the voices of contemporary war artists through original edited interviews.It addresses newly emerged contexts in which war is found: not only sites of contemporary conflicts such as Ukraine, Yemen and Syria, but everywhere in western culture, from social media to ‘culture’ wars. With interviews from official war artists working in the UK, the US, and Australia, such as eX de Medici (Australia) and David Cotterrell (UK), as well as those working in post-colonial contexts, such as Baptist Coelho (India), the editors reflect on contemporary processes of memorialisation and the impact of British colonisation in Australia, India and its relation to historical conflicts. It focuses on three overlapping themes: firstly, the role of memory and amnesia in colonial contexts; secondly, the complex role of ‘official’ war art; and thirdly, questions of testimony and knowing in relation to alleged war crimes, torture and genocide.Richly illustrated, and featuring three substantial interview chapters, The Politics of Artists in War Zones is a hands-on exploration of the complexities and challenges faced by war artists that contextualises the tensions between the contemporary art world and the portrayal of war. It is essential reading for researchers of fine art, curatorial studies, museum studies, conflict studies and photojournalism.

A monumental and richly curated volume that challenges our notions of war itself, questioning how mass violence comes to count as meaningful and worthy of official memory., An evocative exploration of the complexities inherent in ‘war art’. The significant inclusion of the voices of official and unofficial war-artists provides compelling insights into the tensions involved in making art that speaks to military experience and public expectation., In an era of hybrid warfare, the role of war art is changing. This book eloquently examines these transformations, exploring the relationship of war art to colonisation, witness bearing, knowledge, “truth”, and memorialisation., Few books have had the wit or the daring to pose serious questions about the visual potency of 21st century conflict. Facing this challenge head on, this urgent, timely, and important publication examines the ambiguous, distributed and often invisible world of warfare with conviction and insight. It is compulsory reading for scholars of conflict and all those fascinated by the testimony of learned experience.

Kit Messham-Muir is Professor in Art, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University, Australia; and Uroš Cvoro is Associate Professor of Art Theory, Arts, Design & Architecture, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Together they are the authors of Images of War in Contemporary Art: Terror and Conflict in the Mass Media (Bloomsbury, 2021) and The Trump Effect in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture: Populism, Politics, and Paranoia (Bloomsbury, 2022). Monika Lukowska-Appel is Research Assistant for ‘Art in Conflict’ at Curtin University, Australia.