Fifteen wounded, injured and sick Service personnel, veterans and their family members have been taking part in The Royal British Legion’s recovery through art project…
The four week programme is culminating in a public exhibition in Brighton.
The Recovery and Wellbeing through Art project has been backed by award-winning actor and Armed Forces Champion Ray Winstone. It is being delivered in partnership with Phoenix Brighton and The Drive Project, and is being run by Bravo 22 Company, The Royal British Legion’s recovery through the arts programme.
Bravo 22 Company was created by Alice Driver for the Legion in 2011 to help improve self-awareness, confidence, self-esteem and motivation in order to move wounded, injured and sick Service personnel along their individual paths to recovery. Following the success of Bravo22 theatre projects ‘The Two Worlds of Charlie F’ by Owen Sheers, ‘Contact’ by Roz Wylie and ‘Boots at the Door’ this is the first art project from the company, and explores model making, sculpture and collage around the theme of recovery.
Veteran and project mentor, Stewart Hill said “Creating art has brought me positive feelings of enjoyment and mental calm. It has given me a lifeline into a new world where I feel valued and challenged. I’ve been astonished at the efforts and enthusiasm shown by the participants during this project. The sculptures are their ideas, their creations and represent who they are and how they feel.”
Artist and Creative Director Al Johnson has been leading the course, and working one to one with participants to create life size sculptures out of wire. Each of the sculptures is unique to their creator and tells a different story of recovery, whether that’s a painful memory, worries and concerns about civilian life, or injuries that can’t be physically seen.
The Art of Recovery exhibition is open to the public from Friday 22nd July – Sunday 24th July at Phoenix Brighton.
For more information call 07999 735 049, emailbravo22company@britishlegion.org.uk or visitwww.britishlegion.org.uk/bravo22