shadow of the bomb

An exhibition of art inspired by the experiences of British Nuclear Test Veterans

Shadow of the bomb

Shadow of the bomb art inspired by the experiences of British Nuclear Test Veterans

The artworks in this exhibition are all available to purchase, the proceeds will go towards obtaining the recognition our veterans and their families justly deserve. You will be able to browse the works on-line from July 2013 and select from various formats including: Limited Prints, Postcard prints, Card Prints, mounted and frames prints along with a selection of the original artworks.

Visit www.bntva.com and click on the Shop link, you will find all the artworks in the Shop Gallery.

Gary Bennett Sculpture - Friendly Fall Out


The shadow of the bomb

In the UK 35% of Nuclear Test Veterans suffer from depression or anxiety. Almost every veteran has gone through their lives wondering if each new condition they develop is because of the tests. Looking at the illness and deaths of their children and asking is it because of the tests? Above all experiencing that feeling of dread every time one of their children announces they are having a baby. This is the human cost above and beyond the suffering of physical conditions, which may or may not have been caused by the tests. This is the very real, very tangible mental anguish directly attributable to the tests that our veterans have faced every day since their return.

As Chairperson of the BNTVA I take great pleasure in bringing this art exhibition to you. I hope it will inspire you to learn more about this almost forgotten group of men and their families. I hope it will encourage you to join our call for the recognition of their unique service and consequential suffering.

Nige Heaps – BNTVA Chairperson

Between 1952 and 1967, in the largest Tri-Service operation since the D-Day landings, over 20,000 servicemen participated in British Nuclear Weapons Tests. The development of these superweapons bought our place at the world superpower table during the Cold War. The cost in human terms has never been fully calculated nor appreciated, in the blinding light of the bombs a shadow was cast across the lives of so many people.


The Weight of Others (Collograph)

&

Weight of Others II (Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

Made up of a collection of wire and personal material. This Collograph/Dry Point Etching aims to portray a struggle to carry an injured colleague and to protect them at any cost as you know you are protected by them. The psychological baggage of war can be carried forever.


Secrets in the Sand(Dry Point Etching)

&

Secrets in the Sand II(Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

Without questions soldiers go to any theatre that they are sent to, no enemy ever faced in modern times has been more harrowing than that of an Atomic Bomb Test. Soldiers supporting NBC suited scientists are subjected to radiation, lined up in an invisible slow moving firing squad.


Rescue at Sea(Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

For me servicemen and women are called upon to serve sometimes in the harshest of working environments, this image is a tribute to those who put their lives at risk to save others.

Saviour(Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

Many occasions during service a serviceman or woman can find themselves in a compromising position where they feel that drowning sensation, that all is lost, however being part of a team there is always hope on the horizon where together there is strength.


Digging for Survivors(Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

This image is a tribute to the courage of the Security Forces during Operation Banner, Northern Ireland, where servicemen and women attended the aftermath of the terrorist bombings. The harrowing images confronted stay with them always.

Memorial Enniskillen(Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

Dry Point Etching. A tribute to the small market town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland where men, women and children suffered great loss to a terrorist bomb whilst gathered around the cenotaph remembering the fallen on Remembrance Day.


Patrol Resting (Dry Point Etching)

&

Patrol Resting II(Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

Depicts the comradeship of a small team huddled together in an open and vunerable environment. The images are dwarfed to give the appearance of youth. As always to the rear one stands guard, to the foreground a soldier reassures the other who stares that 1000 yard stare, the familiar face of Post Traumatic Stress.


Memorial(Collograph, Watercolour)

&

Memorial II(Collograph, Watercolour)

Gary Bennett

The image was created by sculpting wire into the form of 3 soldiers. In the foreground a soldier goes to the aid of an injured colleague, to the rear stands a memorial figure. This wire was inked and printed combined with watercolour on archers paper.


Angel and the Fallen(Dry Point Etching)

&

Angel and the Fallen II(Dry Point Etching)

Gary Bennett

From early times the soldier confronts the realisation that in order to work effectively one has to accept the possibility of the inevitable. However on completion of service it is not always apparent that one can now live. In the event of a soldier falling in the field he is reassured by valkyrie the soldiers angel that she will accompany him from his hell to a resting place of peace.


Friendly Fallout(Oil Painting)

Gary Bennett

In this image I tried to create that second as the atom bomb ignites, now there is no return, now the most horrific unimaginable sentence has been gifted to man by a naive security on the faithful loyal servants of our nation.

No Man’s Land(Dry Point Etching Watercolour)

Gary Bennett

The mushroom almost appears inviting even though poisonous the colours draw you in. Segments of molten rock fall from the sky to an uninhabitable landscape. These strangely volcanic like radioactive particles sometime later are gathered by soldiers and taken home as curiosities of a time when man unleashed his most powerful and lasting destruction on the planet.


Contaminated

Kathrine Connery

‘Contaminated’ is born of an image that came into my head when I was researching for a project on how nuclear waste is stored. The realisation that all personnel that took part in the Atom bomb tests were in fact: Nuclear Waste Containers, both shocked and saddened me to the core of my being.

Obviously, my father being a veteran of these tests means it’s a subject very close to home. Creating the piece was a traumatic experience in itself. When I agreed to submit more work on this subject for the exhibition, I had no idea how emotional it would be. As the painting evolved my heart just seemed to break at the senselessness of it all. There are many tears mixed in with the paint on this piece and the others.

At the point in painting, where I used my own handprint in the picture, it hit me hard: YES, I too am contaminated! A lifetime of illness bears testimony the genetic inheritance, I most definitely did not ask for.

This picture is about all those that were actually there at the test sites, but it also reflects the legacy of contamination that goes on through descending generations. The biggest horror, is not knowing when, or IF it will ever stop!


Nuclear Skies

Kathrine Connery

In the piece named “Nuclear Skies”, I’ve tried to capture the horror of: “You could see the bones in your hands, as you held them over your eyes!” My father recounted this to me, when he talked of the tests and I heard many other veterans talk of this, when I accompanied him to meetings. It has always been a startling image in my mind and I’ve endeavoured to relay this to canvas.

The words are my own, and designed for reflection of the: “Hell” of these momentous events in the history of mankind and the planet. Just HOW MUCH radiation there must have been in the air for this to have happened is beyond comprehension. Once again, I suspect it will remain yet another piece of information, we will never really know the truth about. I use the word ‘sin’ in the work, as I believe that mankind is accountable for it’s actions. I suspect it will be far beyond my lifetime, before we begin to understand what was done to the planet during these tests, and to the human race.


Atomic Rain

Kathrine Connery

This piece came about when I was requested to do a surreal picture as a college project. I don’t know anything more surreal than what happened at the Atom bomb test sites. To this day it astounds me, and influences my life daily. My father, Frank (Paddy) Connery, was a veteran of these tests, and it is to him, that I dedicate this picture.

The skeletons with umbrellas represent the absurd lack of safety precautions taken at the time of the tests. When the veterans were exposed to the bombs, they may as well have just put up umbrellas, for all the protection they had. I’ve included old newspaper in the picture, with the idea that: You cannot bury this story as ‘old news’, it is very much part of today. It is part of the planet now and many people’s lives. The forget-me-not is a reminder of all those who took part.


Breaking Point

Kathrine Connery

I was thinking about the first of Britain’s Atom bomb tests in 1952, as this was the one my father was involved in. I wondered in particular about the moment of detonation. What did that moment mean to the world, to the people who took part in the tests and to the planet itself?

This painting evolved as a result of these reflections. I realised that, the moment the bomb was detonated was in fact a, “Breaking Point”.

In that split second, the world as it may have been, changed beyond repair, the lives of those involved, was literally ‘BLOWN’ off course forever. There was NO going back. NO undoing what had been done and absolutely NO way to comprehend the immensity of the moment for so many ordinary people, my father and all test veterans included.


Ultimate Folly

Geoff Gleeson

The idea behind creating this picture arose in the 1980’s following a conversation with my brother Cyril regarding his time on Christmas Island and the plight of the people who served there during the bomb tests.

I acquired a replica skull and fitted it with red sunglasses. Photography with a 35mm film camera did not allow me to add the nuclear blast reflection in the glasses. It was not until nearly 20 years later with the advent of digital photography that I decided to have another go.

It took me quite a while to obtain another replica skull. This time I took the photograph in total darkness and illuminated the skull with a handheld LED torch. The nuclear blast reflections were then added using computer technology.

After Edvard Munch’s “Scream” 1893

Cyril Gleeson

When painting my picture it brought back the feeling I had at the Tests that we had reached the penultimate, that after that it was the end of humanity.

“All art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further.”

Rainer Maria Rilke. poet, 1875 – 1926


An Active Mind

Nige Heaps

The nucleus of the explosion radiates out encompassing the thinker, the witness who sees the cloud, the deaths and becomes the questor - why? The radiation of thought and particle is symbolised by the repetitive use of the radioactive trefoil creating not just the active mind but the radioactive mind.

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The treatment of our atomic veterans and the work of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association were first brought to my attention by a constituent. I have since become increasingly involved with the BNTVA over the years, and was honoured to be invited to serve as the group’s Patron.

Over the years, the BNTVA has been wise to resist the siren calls to participate in the various legal actions against the Government. Our Parliamentary campaign has already delivered real results. Our pressure on the MoD led to the excellent Health Needs Analysis, which has been of substantive help both to veterans and our cause generally.

I have championed the official BNTVA Recognition Campaign which was launched on 11th June 2013 with the support of many of my fellow MP’s from all parties.

Message from BNTVA Patron John Baron MP

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shadow of the bomb

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bomb art

exhibition of art

art exhibition

british nuclear weapons

atomic bomb

limited prints

postcard prints

human cost