Mark Neville: Battle Against Stigma - Gallery Guide

EXHIBITION GUIDE Mark Neville

Battle Against Stigma QUAD presents the first UK exhibition of Mark Neville’s Battle Against Stigma project that aims to address issues of mental health problems in the military. Also included is the UK premiere of Displaced Ukrainians, focussing on the plight of children in a war zone.

The exhibition is part of FORMAT International Photography Festival off year programme and also QUAD’s yearlong season of ‘Wellbeing’.

Mark Neville works at the intersection of art and documentary, investigating the social function of photography.

Often working with closely knit communities, in a collaborative process intended to be of direct, practical benefit to the subject, his photographic projects to date have frequently made the towns or demographics he portrays the primary audience for the work.

The Battle Against Stigma exhibition features photographs, films, emails and copies of a book, also titled Battle Against Stigma, that recounts Neville’s own personal experience when he was sent out to Helmand in 2011 as an official War Artist. The exhibition is intended to give some insight into the issue of adjustment disorder and PTSD which he suffered on his return to the UK. Printed in Spain, the first 500 copies of the book were seized at customs by UK Border Force when they were dispatched. However, a second consignment of 1,000 copies entered the UK via a different route thus escaping seizure and arriving safely at Neville’s studio. Throughout 2015 Neville distributed these copies free to Defence Mental Health Services, prison libraries, homeless veterans, probation services, and veteran mental health charities, in an attempt to reach and encourage untreated sufferers to speak up and seek help.

Neville wrote an essay on his PTSD, condition including extracts from the book, for The Independent News Review magazine in 2015, in which he encouraged veterans to contact him. The response was staggering, with over 1000 emails sent from veterans, families and friends, and organisations sharing their experiences of these conditions and requesting copies of the book. A selection of these emails is included here in the exhibition. Together this mass of documentation constitutes a major new insight into the experiences of those suffering from mental illness following service in modern warfare.

During the exhibition Neville will also be hosting an event at QUAD in which veterans are invited to contribute to a collection of oral history accounts of adjustment disorders collated from former British service personnel and their support networks. Based on this empirical evidence, a manifesto of improvements will be created to invoke progress in the development of better provision for the prevention of war related mental health conditions within the military.

Paired with the films, photographs and e-mails all relating to Neville’s Helmand experience, are photographs and video interviews the artist made in Ukraine in 2016. Displaced Ukrainians is a collaboation between Neville and the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin. It combines Neville’s photographs, gathered on long periods of fieldwork, with data from ZOiS opinion polls of the displaced in Ukraine and Russia, contextualising their personal stories. The project focuses on children in Ukraine as one of the most vulnerable groups affected by displacement, and echoes Neville’s photographs of Afghani youth, often emerging like phantoms from the landscape, mirroring the age of the young UK troops they are engaging with in Helmand.

The Battle Against Stigma exhibition at QUAD will act as a platform to connect with veterans, artists, academics, charities and policy makers, uniting the different sectors of society necessary to address improved mental healthcare for service personnel.

The Helmand Works Between December 2010 and March 2011 Mark Neville spent three months on the front line in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, with 16 Air Assault Brigade making work as an official British War Artist. He made stills using multiple flash systems, conducted interviews, and also made 16mm movies, employing high-speed slow motion film cameras normally used in car-crash testing.

Growing Up In Helmand Photographs Neville's photographs of Helmand Province were often taken whilst he was out on patrol with 16 Air Assault Brigade.

Over 60% of the population in Afghanistan is under 25, and he observed that some of the British soldiers serving appear as if they are still in their late teens. Using a plate camera and powerful flash units, his images depict a military occupancy by young people of a country predominantly populated by young people and children. Often emerging like phantoms from the landscape, alone or in pairs, these young Afghanis have obviously taken on adult responsibilities very early in life, mirroring the age of the young, teenage troops they are engaging with.

Child, Jacket, Slaughtered Goat, Sweets, Xmas Day, Helmand This photograph was taken on a check point at the front line in Helmand, on Xmas Day 2010. It features an Afghani child wearing one of the thousands of jackets handed out by ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) to local families to help them get through the bitterly cold winters. The child is eating sweets given to him from a British Army ration box, whilst in the background two members of the Afghan National Security Force are seen slaughtering a goat according to their religion. As a whole, the image talks about the complex relationship between locals and the ISAF forces, and how the complicated meeting of differing Eastern and Western values and customs manifested itself on the ground in Helmand. For more information visit: www.markneville.com

Displaced Ukrainians by Mark Neville is part of the exhibition Battle Against Stigma. Battle Against Stigma is part of FORMAT International Photography Festival off year programme. QUAD and FORMAT would like to thank the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin for the loan of the artworks Displaced Ukrainians.

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EXHIBITION GUIDE Mark Neville Displaced Ukrainians According to official Ukrainian statistics and UN estimates, there are about 1.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ukraine (2016). The ongoing war in the Donbas region has put Ukraine among the ten countries worldwide with the highest number of IDPs. Additionally, an estimated 1 million have fled to Russia. Through their displacement these individuals disappear from view. They are not captured by standard opinion polls, they do not figure in international media reports (and are hardly mentioned in the Ukrainian and Russian media), and in policy circles they are primarily seen as a temporary humanitarian aid issue. Too little is known about their experiences, attitudes and identities.The displaced as the people hardest hit by the conflict are also an important test group for the analysis of attitude and identity change through war. In turn, understanding if and how war affects attitudes and political identities is vitally important for conflict-management and political stability. Displaced Ukrainians is a collaboration between artist Mark Neville and the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin. The project gives the displaced a voice. It combines Neville’s work, which is located at the intersection of art and documentary and results from long periods of fieldwork, with fresh data from ZOiS opinion polls among the displaced in Ukraine and Russia that help to contextualize the personal stories. The exhibition focuses on children as one of the most vulnerable groups affected by displacement.

Children who attend the Virskiy Choreography School in Kyiv, wearing national costume Virskyi School of Choreography invites young people who were studying folk dances in their native towns (before being displaced to Kyiv) to attend classes and concerts for free. Many people Neville interviewed for this project said they never felt specifically Ukrainian or Russian until the conflict started. In this context, national dances, dress, songs and culture have acquired a deeper significance and have become more popular. The re-enforcement of Ukrainian cultural identity through national symbols seems to provide a sense of security among the displaced people in Ukraine.

Child psychological rehabilitation camp Lisova Zastava, Kyiv Region This camp was set up in a forest near Dymer Village, in the Kyiv region, to provide support and treatment for a limited two week period to children who live on the frontline, or who have been displaced or orphaned due to the conflict.

Out of an estimated 1,785,740 internally displaced people in Ukraine (as of 2016), at least 169,756 are children, and 493,897 disabled and elderly (source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine http://www.dsns.gov.ua).

A country in crisis clearly cannot offer accessible care to everyone in need. Many centres are maintained entirely by volunteers. Ukraine is now the country in Europe with the highest number of IDPs. The overall number of the internally displaced Ukrainians is greater than the population of, for example, Montenegro or Estonia.

The Lukinovy, displaced from Crimea As of 2016, an estimated 22,000 Crimeans of different ethnic origins have left their homes after the Russian Federation annexed the peninsula in March 2014 (source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine http://www.dsns. gov.ua/). The Russian authorities have required Crimean residents to either become Russian citizens or, if they refuse, to be deemed foreigners in Crimea. Anna Lukinova, husband Andrej, and son Timofey felt increasingly uncomfortable and decided to leave their native Crimea and move to Kyiv shortly after the annexation.

Tatiana and her family at a “Father’s House”, a Rehabilitation Centre for Women and Children in Sviatopetrivske, Kyiv region “The Father’s House”, a charity organization founded by Roman Korniiko in 1996, was established in response to the problem of child homelessness in Ukraine. Such organizations offer programmes of complex rehabilitation, raising children who have survived conflict experiences. After a period of living with a family, the ultimate aim of the “Father’s House” is to bring the children back to their biological families or, if this is not possible, to prepare them for adoption or for independent lives, integrated into society.

The basic conditions under which child homelessness flourishes are worsening due to the ongoing conflict. In the occupied territories the majority of state and municipal institutions responsible for the care and guardianship of minors has stopped working completely.

Anna and Liudmila Lazo at an IDP Camp in Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region Anna and Liudmila Lazo left their home in Luhansk when the war began in order to take a rest in Odessa.Whilst in Odessa, the conflict escalated and it became clear that they could not return home.They ultimately found refuge in this IDP camp, a converted sanatorium in Sviatohirsk called “Troyanda” (it translates as ‘rose’). According to the local music school in Sviatohirsk, which gives free lessons to the displaced, the population of 4,000 in Sviatohirsk has doubled with the establishment of three major IDP camps since the war began in 2014. Often these camps are converted factories, schools, or hospitals which have been renovated and made habitable by the IDPs themselves.

Lazo says there is little or no provision made for the disabled in Ukraine, and that this is even more the case with regards to displaced disabled children. The number of aged and disabled people amongst the general demographic of IDPs was estimated to be 493,897 in 2016.

The Choir at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) The war highlights a complex interplay of cultural, national and political identities. Religion is an important part of Ukrainian society, and the churches play a role with regard to the displaced. Since Ukraine gained independence in 1991, the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of the Kyiv and the Moscow Patriarchates have been the country’s most influential churches. Kyiv Lavra Orthodox Church belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate. Its website states that since 2016 it has provided one million kilograms of clothes and food to people impacted by the conflict through an organization called “Missions of Mercy without Borders”. In Ukraine it is estimated that approximately 21 percent of the population follow Orthodoxy according to the Moscow Patriarchate, and 44 percent follow Orthodoxy according to the Kyiv Patriarchate. Neither of the Patriarchates recognizes the other as being legitimately Orthodox. Dr. Evgenia Kuznetsova, Kyiv, writes: “Since the outbreak of conflict, reports of religious persecution in the Donbas region have continued to emerge, and there have been cries to protect the Orthodox faith from the advances of decadent Europe” (source: https://www.opendemocracy.net/ od-russia/ eugenia-kuznetsova/religious-persecution-in-eastern-ukraine).

In Crimea, according to witnesses and human rights observers, members of every confession (except for the Russian Orthodox Church) have suffered harassment. Though Russia of cially observes a distinction between church and state, the Orthodox Church is a political player closely related to the regime.

Aleksandr Konokov and Sasha on their Goat Farm in Desiatny, Zhytomyr region Aleksandr has been displaced from Severodonetsk. He and his wife were captured by separatists while delivering food parcels and gifts to Ukrainian army troops in Donetsk. Both were subsequently tortured. Aleksandr was released after six months and moved to Zhytomyr, where he currently runs a farm with sheep and over two hundred goats.

According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, 31% of Ukrainians reside in rural areas. Most of them earn their living from private farming.

Kristina in Luganke, Eastern Ukraine, an hour after the shelling, 1, 2, and 3 An hour prior to this photograph being taken in September 2016, Kristina and her mother had been sheltering in the basement of their home in Luganke, trying to escape the shelling. As soon as it stopped, Kristina insisted on going out to play in the garage, where she had set up a kind of impromptu theatrical stage with props. Within minutes she was playing to the camera, apparently mimicking the screeching sounds of bombs exploding in her town, sometimes doing the splits. Since the pictures were taken, Kristina has had to leave Luganke. According to UNICEF 580,000 children who live in the occupied territories or close to the frontline have been affected by the conflict, and at least one third of them needs psychological assistance (source: https://www. unicef.org/ukraine/ukr/media_29096.html) Zhytomyr Special Boarding School for Deaf Children no.2 Zhytomyr Special Boarding School for Deaf Children no.2 is an “exclusive” school situated 130km from Kyiv, in the northwest of Ukraine. In addition to accommodating children from all over the region, the school is now also taking in children who have been displaced by the war in Eastern Ukraine, as well as children with Down’s Syndrome. All schools in Ukraine are now expected to take in IDPs. Fully inclusive schools, which are rare, do not separate “general education” and “special education” programmes; instead, the school is restructured so that all students learn together. The Ministry of Education has recently prepared a general recommendation for the inclusive education of disabled children, but the topic is still highly controversial.

The folloiwng graphs were commissioned by the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin at the same time that they commissioned the artworks Displaced Ukrainians by Mark Neville.

G A L L E RY PLAN

The Batt le A Email Re gainst Stigma Boo sponses k and Battle Ag

ainst Stigm

a Book

Informa

tion Area

SCREENING ROOM FILMS: 7.62mm, 2011, digital transfer from 16mm film, 11 minutes Paratroopers, 2011, digital transfer from 16mm film, 6 minutes 24 seconds

SCREENING ROOM

Bolan Market, 2011 Digital HD transfer from 16mm Film, 6mins

Interview with an Operational Officer, 2011, 8 minutes 20 seconds

The Helmand Works

7 Di 1 h spla ou ced r 4 Uk 1 m rai inu nian te s, 2 s 01

Displaced Ukrainians

QUAD GALLERY ENTRANCE

MSST Clinic, 2011, 5 minutes and 45 seconds

Displaced Ukrainians by Mark Neville is part of the exhibition Battle Against Stigma. Battle Against Stigma is part of FORMAT International Photography Festival off year programme. QUAD and FORMAT would like to thank the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin for the loan of the artworks Displaced Ukrainians.

derbyquad.co.uk formatfestival.com