Painting to Afghanistan

[Paul Gagnon]

Chris Hennebery, of the Royal Westminster Regiment is working on a series of paintings about the war in Afghanistan. He is raising funds to travel there so he can finish his work. Rather than trying to paraphrase I will let you read it yourself.

http://www.paintingtoafghanistan.com/

Painting to Afghanistan
I've just launched a fundraising program through KickStarter. If you're not familar with KickStarter, its a service set up for artists to raise money for their projects. Its funded some really great ideas and I'm using it to raise money to complete my project on the Reserves at war.

As you can tell from my previous posts, I rely heavily on friends who come back home from overseas duty and share with me their stories and photos. This is the content I use to create my paintings and without it I'm really at a loss. As much as I've been able to use some of these to get me started, what I really need is first hand experience in country: I need to capture (via film) the subjects and create enough material to then finish my painting series. The money raised by KickStarter will be used to transport me to Afghanistan, secure equipment and the documentation gear needed to fulfill the project.

The really great (and viral) part about KickStarter is that it encourages the artist to share their art with the people who back them. I'm doing the same. No matter what you donate, you get something from the show. Smaller donations receive really cool luggage stickers based on one of my finished pieces and larger ones receive original art right up to the largest 22"x44" fined paintings (1 of 10).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hennebery/painting-to-afghanistan

My project focuses a 10 painting series about reservist soldiers who leave their jobs, school and families to serve a tour in Afghanistan. This is not a cometary on war or the west's involvement in Afghanistan. Its about documenting how these volunteers are trying to make a difference , about how they are affecting the Afghans and about how they deal with the strife and loss that is always just around the corner in a country gripped by war. Its my intent to capture them in their element, to provide context to their stories and give meaning to my own contribution as an artist.

Any money left over will be donated to the Honour House Society in my home town, New Westminster, B.C.

http://www.honourhouse.ca/

Honour House Society is an independent registered charity whose objective to provide free interim accommodation for the families of Canadian Forces and first responders (ambulance, fire, law enforcement) while members of these services are receiving care in Metro Vancouver.

To honour the contribution and service our first responders and Canadian Forces have made to our nation, we have named this residence “Honour House”.

Honour House will be a place of refuge and composure where families may stay close together. Members of the Canadian Forces and first responders may recover knowing that there is a place close by where a degree of family life can be maintained.