The Imperial War Museum Remembrance discussion 2023

From Iraq and Afghanistan and news headlines today back to earlier battles in the Spanish Civil War and World War Two, the relationship between war, photography and the press has affected attitudes towards conflicts. In the annual Remembrance discussion organised in partnership with the Imperial War Museum, Free Thinking presenter Anne McElvoy's panel are: Toby Haggith Senior Curator, Department of Second World War and Mid 20th Century Conflict; Irish Iraqi artist Jananne Al-Ani, whose work explores surveillance, aerial reconnaissance and exodus after warfare; Charlie Calder-Potts, who was an official war artist with the British Army in Afghanistan 2013/14; and Caroline Brothers, author of War and Photography: A Cultural History.

The Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries at IWM London include around 500 works from the museum collections including John Singer Sargent’s painting Gassed, Steve McQueen’s response to the 2003 war in Iraq, Queen and Country, and works by artists including Paul Nash, Laura Knight, Peter Jackson, Olive Edis and Omer Fast. Charlie Calder-Potts works with aluminium, wasli, wood panel and vellum (calf skin); combining photography, painting and drawing and has worked in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran and Russia. Jananne Al-Ani is an Irish Iraqi artist who teaches at the University of the Arts London. Her video piece Timelines which was on display at the Towner Art Gallery Eastbourne last year and has recently been seen at the Ab-Anbar Gallery, London, explores Armistice Day 1918 in the town of al-Hindayyah in what is now modern-day Iraq. Caroline Brothers is the author of War and Photography A Cultural History.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

You can find a collection of episodes exploring war and conflict on the Free Thinking programme website which include past discussions organised in partnership with the IWM.