Adapt, Improvise, Overcome

Darrin Freewas a highly commended artist in the Napier Waller Art Prize held at the Australian War Memorial in 2020 for 'Adapt, Improvise, Overcome'. His artist statement reads; 'Three ideals I learnt as a young recruit at Kapooka 1989. Three works of watercolour and ink tell a story from my life as a soldier. Adapt: A boy from Tasmania, I deployed to Somalia 1993. Nothing could have prepared me for what I would experience. Red represents The Stranger’s blood that covered me. I could not save him. I carried many wounds with me from Africa. Improvise: Back home the nightmares begin. I’m told “harden up sunshine”. Black portrays the heavy burden of depression and responsibility. Edges are fraying, darkness spilling out. I must not fail. I soldier on for 20 years. Overcome: “Get help or lose your family”. My service ended 2014. This represents me unpacking and looking at service life, which was incredibly hard to do. Individual segments, tidy until deployment where fracture occurred and parts of me were lost. Grains of wheat are shown, food I distributed in Somalia and East Timor. Ward 17 Repat where a new path emerges. My journey continues from Soldier to Artist. Drawing is meditative, cathartic and healing. The final segments are evolved, bigger and stronger. They symbolise becoming whole again, remembering the past whilst embracing the future'.