Falklands 40 Portrait Project

Alan Ewart is an ex-matelot who is now a commercial photographer and is looking for 40 volunteers from those who served during the Falklands Conflict to create a photographic body of work that features Falkland veterans in time for the 40th anniversary in 2022.

The project is my way of honouring all who were killed, wounded, or psychologically harmed during the conflict. - Alan Ewart

“The commitment from volunteers isn’t an onerous one. All I need is one or two hours of their time, and the willingness to undergo a short interview about their experiences and their lives since the conflict. The interviews will be video recorded and edited to make a short film. I also want to make some photographs of the veterans, where possible with beret or cap, and medals.

The volunteers will need to be willing to provide me with a photograph of themselves in uniform (doesn’t matter if it’s No8’s or any other rig). These will be digitised, retouched, and mounted side by side in print with one of my modern day photos of them. I will be seeking widespread publication of the project in places like the Guardian and the Independent, outlets with a good focus on the arts. I aim to reach the broadcast media as well.

My ultimate aim is to exhibit the work during the events on the Islands to mark the 40th Anniversary. It would be my intention to donate the work for permanent exhibition in one of the Islands museums. I hope to exhibit a further version in the various war and photography museums in the UK. This version will include a further 40 images of Falkland Islanders. I intend to travel to the Islands for a month or so before the 14th June anniversary of the liberation of Stanley to repeat the above process with 40 Islanders, hopefully including family members of those Islanders who were killed during the conflict.

Lastly, I will be seeking to publish the project as a book with profits going to service charities. At present I am self-funding the project, but as mentioned above I am applying for an arts council grant. I will also need to raise funding elsewhere. If you know of anywhere I could apply for some funding please let me know. Obviously the amount of funding I can raise will affect the scope of the project, I couldn’t fund a month in the Falklands myself.

Finally, I am of course very happy to take some family portraits for any volunteer who would be willing to help (obviously at no cost.)”

If any ARDENT’s would like to be put in touch with Alan please contact Richie through the normal channels.