| Accession Number | ART96798 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Art |
| Measurement | Sheet: 58.8 x 74.6 cm; Image: 45 x 62 cm |
| Object type | |
| Physical description | etching and acquatint on paper |
| Maker |
Gittoes, George Noel Griffith Print Workshop |
| Place made | Australia: Queensland |
| Date made | 2000 |
| Conflict |
Period 1990-1999 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Unlicensed copyright |
What's left?
Description
The main figure in this image is 27-year-old Ghuncha, a Pakistani land mine victim and widowed mother of five. In the background hovers Ghuncha's eldest daughter, 8-year-old Soltan. Gittoes brings into sharp focus the futility of war with his question, 'What's left?', and the grotesque distortion of the two figures.
The exhibition 'Minefields' included the original sketch of this subject which Gittoes made in-country and the major work he painted in his studio in Australia. The catalogue provides a detailed account of Gittoes meeting Ghuncha, and her tragic story. Gittoes recounts: "She has 5 children and is only 27 years old. Her oldest child is 8 years - they all depend totally on her. It is for them she has clung so tenaciously to life." ['Minefields: an exhibition', Sydney: G. Gittoes and Australian Network of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, c.2000, Sir Hermann Black Gallery, University of Sydney, Mar-Apr 2000].
Australians were part of the UN Mine Clearance Training Team (UNMCTT) and were in Afghanistan and Pakistan between 1989 and 1993. In 1999, Gittoes travelled to Thailand, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Pakistan to collect the stories and pictures of land mine victims in support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.