Untitled

The relationship between alcohol, people and location has been a reoccurring theme in previous artworks of mine. This project was no different. The on-site welfare facilities (bars) caught my attention. Especially the padlocked fridge. This led to me recreating the fridge and filling it with various objects I spotted during my site visit. Throughout my site visit and discussions with ex-army members off site it was very clear that discussing army business/life with civilians is very different to discussing it with someone who has experienced the lifestyle, even if they are a total stranger. This made me question if this is necessarily a bad thing? Do we deserve to know everything? Another factor that stood out was the role of social drinking. From personal experience these discussions usually occur when alcohol is involved. Hence why I have locked many aspects of the army base inside the fridge along with the alcohol. Ready to be released and discussed, on the army’s terms, with who they want to hear it.

This project had to be approached with care and sensitivity. I had to remain open minded and focus on the brief, which was to document the army’s life at home, without ignoring the army’s controversial past and current affairs. It reminded me that my main goal as an artist is to simply observe and document my findings in art form to help educate others.