For Immediate Use

Date: 12/11/2014

MEDIA RELEASE

Caught in the Crossfire: Artistic Responses to Conflict, Peace and

Reconciliation

Art exhibition launches at Guildford House Gallery

On 31 January 2015 until 28 February, the Guildford House gallery unveils the exhibition Caught

in the Crossfire: Artistic Responses to Conflict, Peace and Reconciliation.

Caught in the Crossfire explores how artists grapple with both the brutality of war and the desire

for peace. The exhibition takes the viewer on a challenging journey from the home front to the

frontline and back again, as seen through the eyes of artists, soldiers and people affected by

conflict.

Throughout the 20th century and continuing today, artists have responded to the experiences of

people, communities and countries suffering the brutality of war and conflict but also striving for

peace, reconciliation and friendship.

Caught in the Crossfire leads visitors to explore and debate some fundamental issues: the

impact of conflict on both the home front and the frontline; the aesthetics of violence and

machinery of war; the division of land and separation of people during conflict; attempts made to

prevent war through protest, resistance and action; and the aftermath of war where hope emerges

and lives are rebuilt. A section of the exhibition focuses on the work of kennardphillipps made in

response to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

kennardphillipps commented "In the context of this exhibition we hope that our work will connect

with art against war from the past and show how, as artists today, there are new ways to protest

against the horror of war in the present".

The works in the exhibition are drawn mainly from the collection of the Herbert Art Gallery &

Museum, Coventry, UK. They focus particularly on items that have been acquired recently as part

of the Collecting Cultures scheme made in partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery through the

Heritage Lottery Fund.

Artists featured in the exhibition are:

Conrad Atkinson, Banksy, Barnbrook Design, Blek Le Rat, Ian Berry, Thomas Galler, Peter

Howson, Al Johnson, John Keane, Peter Kennard, kennardphillipps, Simon Norfolk, Michael Peel,

Jamal Penjweny.

The exhibition is a Heritage Lottery Fund Collecting Cultures project in partnership with

Wolverhampton Art Gallery. New acquisitions are supported by V&A Purchase grant, Art Fund and

Henry Moore Foundation.

- ends

(408 Words)

For further information, images or interview requests please contact Lynn Sygenda 01483

444751