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00:00I was living in America when 9-11 exploded the world as we knew it.
00:19America's response was swift, and just weeks later,
00:24Australian forces also headed to Afghanistan, joining the war on terror.
00:33Overt operations shrouded the war in secrecy, and it lasted almost 20 years.
00:42But more than a decade into the conflict,
00:45it was one of Australia's official war artists, Ben Quilty,
00:48who laid bare the hidden truth of the price of our war in Afghanistan.
00:55And that was just the start of a national reckoning
00:59with what really happens when the war is over.
01:07I'm Rachel Griffiths, and I believe that when it comes to understanding war,
01:14art is our secret weapon.
01:18So in this series, I'm putting this theory to the test,
01:21one war and one artwork at a time.
01:27Because while journalists tell us what happened...
01:30They left in scenes that are now part of television's history.
01:33It's our performance.
01:35When the song was released, it was banned.
01:37Yeah.
01:39Filmmakers.
01:40Peter Weir for Philip.
01:42Writers.
01:43The narrow road to the deep north.
01:45Artists.
01:46Of the only one not carrying a weapon.
01:48And musicians.
01:49If it's too risky to say, sing it.
01:53Who help us make sense of it.
01:56Holy...
01:57This is incredible.
02:02Art's not just there to be pretty and admired.
02:05Art is the magnifying glass and the mirror.
02:07This was a pub rock song that changed our lives.
02:10That's what art can do.
02:13This is when the war is over.
02:16Beauty and pain are old bedfellows
02:45when it comes to art Wow well I have to say this is a brand new experience for me I've looked at
02:57a lot of art but this is the skin is the canvas you're the canvas and you get to wear it all the
03:03time Adam McGuire is a man who wears his heart and his art on his sleeve here we go the big reveal
03:13veteran of over 28 years the war in Afghanistan was his final deployment holy shit this is this
03:26is incredible can I say this is an excellent use of love handles yes because these poppies have a
03:34beautiful three-dimensional quality among his tapestry of tattoos that tell stories about his
03:43and his family's decades of service there's a tattoo for a mate who's close to his heart
03:49there's just something special about Davey he was a reservist when I did my first deployment in 2006
03:57he was dead set I'm joining the regular army and like we tried to hold him off but he went over
04:04to Afghan they were out doing a patrol and he ran over a very large IED and never come back
04:12how long was he in Afghanistan before he not long at all I think it was probably a month oh my god
04:23how'd you find out I've got a phone call Sarge I think Davey's dead and I was like I spoke spoke to
04:33him yesterday so I got a tattoo for him yeah that's in my middle of my chest here in the actual cross
04:41it's got RAP Davey burdened by the loss of his mate in service Adam chose to redeploy to Afghanistan in
04:502012 I couldn't say no to go in Afghan because your mates go or go and some don't come back so you just sort
04:59can't say no when Australia joined the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan the mission was to hunt
05:17Osama bin Laden defeat his al-qaeda terrorists and overthrow the Taliban who harbored them
05:25over nearly two decades there were almost 40,000 Australian troops deployed around 170,000 Afghans
05:37died in the war America lost almost 2,500 soldiers and while 41 Australians were killed in combat at home
05:50a far bigger toll was yet to come you got a poppy for every Australian that died in Afghanistan now you're
06:06seeing a lot more veterans with the tattoos and I think that it helps that's becoming known as former
06:14therapy I would say yeah the pain of getting a tattoo realistically let you know you're alive I mean
06:20some people write journals and keep journals my journals in ink it feels right to put it into images yeah
06:34the hundreds of years the stories of war and the art that tells those stories was largely populated
06:41with heroes and battles there's generals on horses flags above the battlement nameless soldiers fallen in
06:49noble sacrifice but the art of our most recent war in Afghanistan is so different it's visceral it's
06:59immediate and it punches you in the gut it is very very personal
07:11I took no paint to Afghanistan I made lots and lots of film and took lots and lots of photographs
07:19and a pot of ink and I thought that would lead to telling the story the risk and the fear and the
07:25trauma and the danger of being there in 2011 Ben Quilty was a celebrated and highly collected artist and
07:32when he won the nation's most coveted art prize his fame hit new heights the 2011 Archibald prize is
07:40awarded to Ben Quilty for Margaret Olly that same year the Australian War Memorial commissioned him as
07:51the official war artist to Afghanistan I went in there pretty naive I was the only one not carrying
08:02a weapon which is an unusual feeling to be there unarmed in a war zone every single emotion was
08:12extreme and heightened partly because you're living under this constant anxiety that you can be killed
08:19and it was like nothing I'd ever seen and nothing I want to see again I don't want to go back that's
08:24for sure Ben Quilty was following in the footsteps of a long line of official war artists whose role was
08:32to capture our troops at the coal face of conflict the official war artists can be as political or as
08:40anti-war or as pro-war as they want and that's a rare privilege I think given the environment was
08:48special forces is there a suspicion very suspicious this artist doing this lefty they didn't know who I
08:56I was they didn't know why I was there making a drawing of someone is very disarming because the
09:03person is making the drawing has to opt out of the dialogue they were very very reticent to talk to
09:12me because it had been drilled into them do not talk to the media never ever talk to the media I had no
09:21idea who this guy was we had to be careful and what we say here that's what we're thinking you
09:28know are you thinking why do we need an artist in Afghanistan absolutely it's very strange Daniel
09:35Spain was one of the youngest ADF personnel on Australia's main base and he said I want to take
09:40some photos of you guys doing some weird stuff you know all right so he says look at the Sun and he
09:48took these photos of us Ben's aim was to capture the human inside the uniform Daniel Spain he was so
10:00young I was astonished I asked him awkwardly when I realized how young he was does your mother know
10:07what's happening here and a huge tear welled in his eye that was a real turning point for me and
10:14that's why I have made that first painting of Daniel when I got back I was there to tell the story of
10:23the troops I felt aware that so many of the young men and women had this extra pressure that they were
10:31bound by a contract not to speak about their service not even to discuss how they felt
10:37recognizing the crushing nature of this code of silence was a light bulb moment for Ben for me the
10:55biggest story was not the combat zone but more commonly the emotional wounds putting this thing
11:01that you felt and saw and heard into paint to me how does that happen for me the skin was everything the
11:09way the uniform was cut to be boxy aggressive masculine so then ask them strip off and pick a pose
11:18Captain S was a young officer in Afghanistan I asked him to pick a pose and he straightaway said yes I know
11:29the pose and he lay on his back in the unbelievably uncomfortable position as we made the work he told
11:38me the story of why that pose was important and he said that there was many many battles but this one
11:47I remember for the physicality of being stuck on my back for so long and they couldn't work out where
11:53they were shooting at him from and he was with a very young soldier and the friend was hit with a
12:02bullet which went into his body and didn't come out and I said what did them young man say he just kept
12:10saying over and over again I don't want to die I don't want to die
12:14in this painting I tried to leave as much of the skin blank by leaving the skin white it's like there's a bright
12:31light shining on it and the light is everything that comes with the threat and furious danger of being
12:39in a place like that by 2013 Ben had painted 21 portraits laying bare the trauma of return vets
12:48it's just so vulnerable I'm sure when Ben Quilty was on the base this was not what the guys would
13:09have been expecting that he would come up with certainly quite different to an official war artists
13:19commission maybe it's definitely the cost of war
13:30pretty wild
13:39the show's called after Afghanistan have you seen your painting yet before you turn up at the opening
13:47no I hadn't and I was talking to someone they're like oh you one of the guys that he painted in the
13:53nude are you thinking what what have I done did I forget what the hell yeah what was happening
13:58because I didn't from my memory I didn't pose nude for Ben Quilty
14:02do you think he captured something about you at that time in that painting like absolutely
14:13I was very much down on my luck you know feeling depressed and I was heading down a slippery slope
14:24you're kind of home before you've processed where you've been
14:38when I got out I drank a lot so you're not decompressed at all no no I'm like I scared my kids
14:48you go to dark places and like because of the transition when I got out I was like right are
14:57you getting out of the army now I was like no house didn't know where the next dollar was going
15:02to come from as such in my head well if I just brought myself off the wife and kids will get the
15:09money a lot quicker the timeliness of the official opening and Ben reaching out and it couldn't have
15:22come at a better time and that needed to happen to be where I am today through all that Ben became
15:32quite an advocate because all these soldiers that he met had been having very similar experiences
15:39do you think what he was able to do with that work is an important role to have an artist's witness
15:49war like that I think every facet needs to be looked at but he's got to there where what the body
15:54looks normal but the head is just red and that's just like almost like a pink mist you'd say
16:02Ben captures the vulnerability of the returning soldier who's not like the photos of yesterday's
16:08war hero right it doesn't glorify what these paintings do they put on the table the thing
16:15that we won't tell our families the things that we won't for embarrassment or fear or uncertainty of
16:23perception we won't put in front of you as we walk down the street a decade later it wasn't a
16:29civilian like Ben Quilty but a return vet who continued this important conversation and for
16:36her it wasn't just art it was evidence
16:39in the army you were taught loyalty up loyalty down so if you serve with diligence and loyalty they'll
16:53look after you and I just felt like that contract had been broken after we'd given so much artist
17:00cat ray served in the Australian military for 20 years with multiple deployments in Afghanistan her
17:09husband Andrew also served there Andrew tell me about him coming back after his last deployment well I
17:20didn't realize they'd done a suicide risk assessment on him and I didn't know I got a
17:26call to say you need to come and collect him from Sydney Airport with and he was awareness of no
17:33they threw me like a I guess a hot potato as far as mental health he was in chronic pain every part of
17:42this body was physically broken and then there's also the mental health bit I guess increasingly there
17:47was domestic violence against me as well which became more and more dangerous to be around in 2017
17:56Andrew died by suicide harnessing her grief and anger cat found healing through her creative process oh
18:11and produced an artwork oh wow that is astonishing she called it death min death min is the actual
18:23paperwork from Andrew which was his DVA files his medical files it's my height and the weight of Andrew he
18:35was trying to get all of his claims in for Department of Veterans Affairs what was he asking for he was
18:40asking for the support that you'd be entitled to which is rehab and medical attention this is to
18:50mean an arguable totem of of systemic failure on multiple levels it's fragility as well because it
18:57has to lean against the wall and when you join the army you know I'll lean against the wall you're not
19:01allowed to have your hands in your pockets across your arms but this one has to lean against a wall
19:06because it will topple and it's kind of defiantly doing so how did that stack of paperwork become an
19:14artwork I've just been keeping all of this paperwork from Andrew and I was trying to discern what to keep
19:20and treasure for Imogen and what I really needed to release and into a more positive and more powerful way
19:27of being and to kind of shed it from us the conversation around veterans suicide finally
19:36gained national attention and in July 2021 a Royal Commission was launched Royal Commission into Defence and
19:45Veterans Suicide is now in session please be seated nearly 6,000 submissions were made including cat rays in an
19:53effort to find out how our nation had failed our vets defence has been really disappointing they've still
19:59played the old game of cover-up nothing to see here it is them that needs to change
20:08The Napier Wall of our prize which is for people who have served or are currently serving you won it for this work it was in Parliament House and this stopped our politicians
20:23in their tracks I hope it shook things up a little bit I mean there was parts of this artwork which originated in Parliament House and we were petitioning for help
20:33in September 2024 the Royal Commission released its findings they were damning we obviously feel
20:44that this report should be a line in the sand and a call to action
20:51You made this during the Royal Commission Inter-Veteran Suicides it's such a powerful object for change where's the future for this
20:57you made this during the Royal Commission Inter-Veteran Suicides it's such a powerful object for change where's the future for this piece of work
21:13It's such a powerful object for change.
21:18Where's the future for this piece of work?
21:21Well, the Governor-General has asked for it to go to her residence.
21:27That would be amazing. I would love that to happen.
21:30I hope it comes out of here and can speak to more people
21:35and be a reminder to leaders
21:37that so many families in Australia need this change.
21:43While affected families were begging the Government for action on veteran suicides,
21:57the Australian War Memorial was listening.
22:00The result was a radical idea.
22:06We're here today to announce the Sufferings of War and Service sculpture
22:10at the Australian War Memorial,
22:12which will commemorate those who have experienced or witnessed
22:15the ongoing trauma that can result from military service.
22:21There needed to be some acknowledgement of veteran suicide.
22:25There was veterans reporting that they would stand in front of a heroic monument
22:29about death in the battlefield and not feel seen at all.
22:31Alex Eaton is a renowned sculptor known for his work in marble.
22:38So this is it.
22:41That's right.
22:43That's right.
22:44It's very beautiful.
22:45For every drop shed in anguish.
22:52The work consists of 18 large marble droplets.
22:57Their luminous forms suggesting blood, sweat or tears.
23:02So it was commissioned by the mothers whose children had died by suicide or other deaths
23:11that one might say is directly attributable to the service.
23:16That's absolutely correct.
23:17The more we know, the more you can't turn a blind eye to the need within the community to feel seen.
23:24This can no longer be just swept under the carpet.
23:27This idea of loss to find out where the tragedy lies.
23:34For me, it was all about choosing a stone that had poetry written into its surface.
23:4036 tonne, eh?
23:42Yeah, it's a little light load.
23:44A little light.
23:45This is beautiful Queensland marble from the traditional lands of the Wakaman people.
23:50So I was looking through the quarry and they kept showing me this beautiful white version of this.
23:56The pearl, the A grade.
23:57Perfect for the kitchen.
23:58But exactly.
23:59It's like, no, no, I want, what about that stuff up there?
24:01They're like, oh, it's B grade.
24:02You don't want that.
24:03I'm like, that's exactly what I want.
24:06I want these that have the scars in them.
24:11Red iron scars become blood-like.
24:15And I think that sort of speaks to those injuries seen and unseen.
24:18And it's the idea that hopefully there's a sense of resilience to them, too, when you put your hands upon them.
24:30I'm struck by how they could make the intangible pain of grieving families tangible.
24:36And yet somehow feeling them brings a sense of calm.
24:40In these last years since this work has been open, there's been many tributes left around the work.
24:52When the community takes ownership of an artwork, it changes the nature of the work.
24:56It becomes not just a place, it becomes a site.
24:58It becomes a site for specifically to hold those memories.
25:03Now I'd like to show you some of the tributes that have been left around the work.
25:07Notes, medals, photographs, flowers.
25:11Let's have a look.
25:12Let's have a look.
25:13Yeah.
25:24I've got a photograph.
25:26As a mother of a boy that age, I just, I can't actually, like...
25:30No.
25:31Yep.
25:32Whew.
25:33Every day my tears are silent and invisible.
25:35Some days I can't hide them, some days I can't control them.
25:39Remember you said to me, don't cry mum, I can't help but cry.
25:57Then you'll, we miss you every moment of every day.
26:02My god.
26:06When Australia and Allied forces withdrew their troops in June 2021, many were left
26:15questioning the cost of the war.
26:20Amongst the soul-searching, however, one thing was clear.
26:25The art of this war had made the invisible visible.
26:30It was a truth-telling with our soldiers at the centre, and with vets themselves using
26:37art to heal, it's possibly changed the stories we tell about war forever.
26:43Has art got a role in educating and telling your stories for the broader public?
26:48Definitely.
26:49I mean, these tattoos, I suppose, because they're military, it becomes a bit of a talking point.
26:54It sort of helps sort of break the ice.
26:59I feel like the role of the war artist is to say, this is what it felt like, this is
27:06what it cost.
27:07Yeah.
27:08Art is a vehicle to tell every emotion, to get it out of you, for people to see, to share
27:14the burdens, to share whatever it is you're dealing with.
27:19I mean, I felt like that was like an unburdening on my behalf.
27:23It was like, you can have it now, this is your responsibility.
27:26Oh my God, there he is.
27:33I really wanted it to be a call for arms for the people who could make decisions to improve
27:39things in the future.
27:41I'm just very glad that tributes are being left and it becomes meaningful for them.
27:47I think that's all art can really do, is provide permission to feel a certain way, to say it's
27:54okay, it's part of your experience.
27:58Yeah.
27:59Yeah.
28:00Yeah.
28:01Next time.
28:28There was a very big story to tell here.
28:32I find something hidden amongst the nation's war machines
28:36to come up with that.
28:38In the squalor of a prison camp.
28:40That reveals a story of prisoner of war survival
28:43I could never have imagined.
28:45We forget that this is what art can do.
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