Jaimee Edwards

Through reading Kate Mulvany's The Seed and Helen Pearse-Otene's Ka Mate, Ka Ora, two plays by and about children of Vietnam War veterans, this essay gives an alternative account of trauma from dominant trauma theories.Turning over models in which the traumatised subject is characterised as being disconnected from themself and others, this essay traces the way second and third generation subjects who were born into a scene of trauma understand their condition as being one of radical connectivity. This awarness influences the way the characters in these plays cope with the material and emotional burdens of war and how this informs their stratagy for survival in ordinary life.

For Ben Quilty portraiture is about the emotional relationship he develops with his subjects. The works he produced as part of his official war artist commission to Afghanistan in October 2011 reflect the bond he established with the Australian servicemen and women he met and befriended while attached to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). His task was to record and interpret the experiences of the Australians deployed as part of Operation Slipper in Kabul, Kandahar, and Tarin Kot in Afghanistan and at Al Minhad Airbase in the United Arab Emirates. After spending three weeks with these men and women, Quilty felt an overwhelming need to tell their stories.