SIGHTLINES I / SUPERNUMERARY
PHOTOGRAPHIC SERIES, 2009
DAVID COTTERRELL (UK)
Sightlines I / Supernumerary is a series of photographic works depicting the treatment of wounded in Afghanistan. After two years of negotiations between the Wellcome Trust, Imperial War Museum and Ministry of Defence, David Cotterrell was invited to observe the Joint Forces Medical Group at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He underwent basic training, was taught the rudiments of battlefield first aid and was issued with body armour.
In November 2007, he flew in an RAF C17 from Brize Norton to Kandahar, the sole passenger in a plane loaded with half a million rounds of palletised munitions and medical supplies to join Operation Herrick 7. Focusing on these experiences and their inevitable aftermath, Cotterrell has produced a new body of photographic work. Sightlines, Principals and Supernumerary are arranged as diptychs and triptychs. Shot in the operating theatre, these images reference painters famous for their use of chiaroscuro. The lighting and formal arrangements caught in the artist’s lens for a moment distract the viewer’s gaze, suggesting the sublime beauty within horror, the human scale compassion in the face of destruction.
Cotterrell’s work for the exhibition reflects on a brief period of time in Helmand Province, in which two British soldiers died, 29 were wounded in action, 74 were admitted to the field hospital, 71 Aeromed evacuations were recorded and an undisclosed number of civilian, insurgent and Afghan National Army soldiers were treated.
BIO:
David Cotterrell is a UK-based installation artist. His work has been extensively commissioned and exhibited in North America, Europe and the Far East in gallery spaces, museums and the public realm. In 2007, David was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust to travel to Afghanistan. David spent one month in Helmand province travelling to Camp Bastion, Lash Kagar and Sangin with the Joint Forces Medical Group and the Combat Medical Technicians of 40 Commando. David returned as a civilian to the North of Afghanistan with support from the RSA in May 2008 and subsequently, over a period of six months in 2009 the Department of Health enabled David to visit and document the continuing care pathway at Selly Oak and Headley Court. David is Professor of Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University and is represented by Danielle Arnaud, London.