Kandahar

Quilty found Afghanistan to be full of danger, violence, and extreme situations, and referred to it as "this very wild place". What to the soldiers seemed ordinary, must have been extraordinary for Quilty. In 'Kandahar' he has depicted his own feelings as a maelstrom of conflicting energies. On the horizon, the purple-hued mountains have an overwhelming presence in the landscape. It was one of the first paintings he created back in his studio after his return from Afghanistan, his initial visceral response to the experience. Kandahar Airfield itself is a multinational base with approximately 35,000 people from the International Security Assistance Force, local civilian staff, and aid organisations. Weapons are carried at all times by both military and civilian personnel, creating a tense atmosphere with a violent undercurrent. Quilty described Kandahar as being a cross between the worlds of 'Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome' and 'Catch 22', a surreal, dusty, and violent place. As he recalled, "For the first week in Kandahar, I basically felt like I was dodging rockets. The first night we landed there, two or three rockets landed inside the compound." 'Kandahar' captures the tension and fear that underlined Quilty's personal experience of Afghanistan.