Exhibition: ‘Women, War and Peace’
Senedd (Welsh National Assembly) Cardiff Bay.
8 August – 30 September 2017
Annie, beside her painting ‘Grace (Bendith): The Suffering of Women in a Time of War’ (2003) Oil and acrylic 112x91cm.
Photo: Lee Karen Stow
She began the painting it in Warsaw, Poland, on the day of the anti-Iraq war rally in London in February 2003.
“It is based on my own life, my mother’s experiences and my grandmothers. My grandmother had ten sons who all went off to war from Porthmadog in September 1939. Two didn’t come back. My grandmother died a few weeks later in October. I’m sure she died of a broken heart. I have tried to represent women of all races, creeds, and ages. Daughters waiting for their fathers return, wives and lovers waiting for their men, mothers for their sons. It is also a self-portrait. My father was killed in an accident in the Second World War. I am Welsh, my father was in the British Royal Navy. My husband’s mother was in Auschwitz and his father was imprisoned in Siberia by the Russians. They both survived, he then became a pilot with the Polish RAF in Britain. We have, as a family, been deeply affected by wars.”
“This painting came from within. She started off representing Welsh women and ended up representing women of all the world.”
Earlier this month Annie featured in a short radio piece on the exhibition:
About the Exhibition
Sponsored by Ann Jones, Deputy Presiding Offices of the National Assembly for Wales, this exhibition explores the impact of war on the lives of women across the world, and tells the story of women who have striven for peace. It includes photography from the world-renowned photo journalist, Lee Karen Stow, as well as a look at the story of women from Wales’ past who responded to the horror of the First World War and beyond.
In the 100 years since the first world war, how have women felt the impact of war, and contributed to the search for peace? This is the question that the Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA) Canolfan Materion Rhyngwladol Cymru will explore in its latest exhibition: ‘Women, War and Peace’ on display at the Senedd (Welsh National Assembly) in Cardiff until the end of September 2017.
