Interior Decoration

The theme of On Return and What Remains, an exhibition of video projections and installations by Australian and international artists, addresses the aftermath of war, focussing on post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). My installation , comprising photography and two sculptures, explores the distress felt by the family as the war veteran attempts to settle back into civilian life after experiencing deeply traumatic events in the war zone. The photographs are of watchtowers documented in Egypt and Israel, the detritus of a history of warfare, signifying hyper vigilance experienced by veterans. The sculpture titled Watchtower is made from a double bed with a child's stripped cot mattress signifying the hyper vigilance of family members alert to unprovoked aggressive outbursts. The sculpture, Sewing Machine Gun, combines bobby pins and a Singer sewing machine to make a vickers machine gun, signifying amongst other associations, the ameliorating affects of women's care and love for PTSD suffers on their return to family life. Other artists in the exhibition - Khadim Ali, Baden Pailthorpe, Harun Farocki, Omar Fast, Richard Moss.