A CAERPHILLY war veteran has been immortalised in a new art exhibition commemorating 40 years since the Falklands War.
Simon Weston is included in The Art of War, a one-day exhibition that was held at Pangbourne College on Saturday, May 28 with all proceeds being donated to the Army Benevolent Fund (ABF).
Mr Weston features as one of 12 paintings by British artist Jeremy Houghton, the official artist for the Falklands Conflict 40th Anniversary.
ABF helped by putting Mr Houghton in contact with the veterans including Mr Weston. Mr Houghton said: “ABF has been incredibly helpful in putting me in contact with veterans, including the enigmatic Simon Weston who I had the privilege of sketching at his home last month and I’m delighted to be donating proceeds from the exhibition to the charity which does such amazing work to support serving soldiers, veterans and their families.”
The paintings were created using oil, watercolour and sketches, contrasting light and space to create a sense of movement and time and capturing snapshots of the reality of war.
Mr Houghton said of the inspiration: “As a child in the early eighties, I distinctly remember seeing images of the Falklands on the news and in newspapers. It was the first time I’d ever really seen war documented in this way, away from the history books and beamed straight into our living rooms. I think that’s one of the reasons why the conflict has always fascinated me.
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“It was the stories of those often nameless servicemen I saw on the television all those years ago that I wanted to tell through this exhibition, to show snapshots of the war through their eyes. Working with the veterans as part of this project has been incredibly eye opening and I feel very grateful to them for sharing their stories and their memories to help me to formulate a picture of their war.
“Forty years later, we unfortunately find ourselves in much the same situation, turning on our televisions to images of conflict. It’s this notion of watching another moment of history unfold from afar which makes this anniversary all the more poignant and makes exhibitions like this one, which will immortalise the real-life experiences of those who lived through it, all the more important.”
Between April 2, 1982 and the ceasefire being declared on June 14, 1982, 255 British servicemen were killed in the Falklands war with thousands more injured.
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