| Accession Number | AWM2020.205.40.11 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Art |
| Measurement | Sheet: 30 x 42 cm |
| Object type | Work on paper |
| Physical description | watercolour, gouache, pen and pencil on paper |
| Maker |
Cooper, Robert |
| Place made | Australia |
| Date made | 2011 |
| Conflict |
Afghanistan, 2001-2021 Iraq, 2003-2013 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
not titled [Patrol Base Qudus]
Description
Robert Cooper served in Afghanistan 2010-2011. He was deployed as an ASLAV gunner with 2 Cavalry Regiment as part of MTF-2 (Mentoring Task Force – Rotation 2), based in Uruzgan Province.
While on deployment, Cooper was able to sketch and write in his journal, and he also recorded footage of troop movements and the local Afghan people. Cooper was discharged in early 2011. Once home, he produced a sequenced set of 346 works on paper, referring back to the notes and footage he made in Afghanistan so that he could tell the story of his deployment with absolute accuracy. Cooper wanted to show people exactly what he had witnessed and experienced at war.
Trooper Cooper wrote the following description of the work in his diary:
Oct 2010
Patrol base Qudus has a Hesco barrier observation post - further up the feature from the main base and that is where V42A is located... we have good eye's into the valley. A Afghan national soldier - looks at me and then points down into the Baluchi Calley and say's out loud - "Taliban""