Child of War at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, 2024
22nd May - 6th June 2024 at The Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, Binney St, London, W1K 5BQ
About Child of War
Child of War is a landmark exhibition by the award-winning war artist Arabella Dorman. The exhibition is a meditation on war from a child’s perspective, exploring the devastating impact on children’s lives, their mental health and future happiness.
The Exhibition showcases Dorman’s new paintings inspired by her recent trip to Ukraine and events across the Middle East, as well as a powerful installation of artefacts from a bombed school in Kyiv and large-scale collages depicting hundreds of images and words from children around the world. The Exhibition is the result of nearly two decades of Dorman’s work in war zones, as well as the fruit of her work with Beyond Conflict, for whom she is an Ambassador. Child of War features art and words by children from all faiths and cultures in Britain and around the world, relating to conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
The Exhibition is a dialogue with children about war and its impact on childhood, revealing the profound and lasting psychological impact of conflict-related trauma and how we can support ways to heal the unseen suffereing in children’s minds in an increasingly divided world.
Personal Statement by Arabella Dorman
“We believed we were going to die out there. Dark decades. Bitter taste. Migrant drownings. Two million human beings. Terror casts shadows. The future, born to the sound of gunfire. Will the lights go out?” (Words extracted from artwork collage by Lula Solomon, 11 years old).
These words are taken from a child’s artwork, describing what war looks like through her eyes. More than ever before, children today find themselves targeted, vulnerable and exposed to the full horror of modern warfare. As silent victims, it is children who stand on the frontline of the world’s most devastating conflicts, bearing the brunt of unspeakable violence, trauma and loss.
When the child of a nation is attacked, the future of the nation is attacked. Or put another way, to damage a child, is to damage the future. Our future.
Taken from the perspective of children, these artworks bear urgent witness to the trauma that is born out of war. When looked at more closely however, they also reveal the enduring possibility of love, hope and a profound longing for peace, as dreamt of by children. In turn, my work invites a dialogue with and response to that of the children; to the horror and loss that war inflicts, but also to the strength, tenacity and courage of the millions of children living in its shadow today. This body of work is my call to recognise the light of the child that burns brightly within the darkness of war, and the possibility of hope that it carries forward.
“When a child’s cry for a cup of water goes unanswered, this is our shame…” (Syrian mother from Homs)
Injuries however, that are born of war are endlessly repeated. In the words of Margaret Atwood, ‘Damaged people damage people’ and thus the road from victim to perpetrator is assigned and exacerbated, and the cycle of violence never ending. Child of War is my plea that this cycle is broken, and that the voices of children are recognised, heard, and for the sake of humanity alone most urgently acted upon. (Arabella Dorman, 2024)
