Wounded: Legacy of War - Photographs by Bryan Adams

Wounded: Legacy of War is an exhibition of photographic portraits by Bryan Adams of British servicemen and women who have suffered injuries in Iraq, Afghanistan or in training. These servicemen and women celebrate their service and survival within this series of portraits, with these images they have told their stories about what happened to them and about their journey to recovery.





















These photographs are being presented publicly to give people a better understanding of the legacy of modern conflict. We see wars happening all over the world on T.Vs, in newspapers and online, however we don't always see the effects of what exactly happens to our servicemen and women. If we see what happens to them they are usually documented images from photojournalists on the front line, instead of portraits of individuals and we now have the chance to find out in-depth individuals stories of their deployment and life on the frontline and how they cheated death but lived to tell the tales with crippling injuries and go on to explain how they went through rehabilitation and reconstruction.


















The exhibition was shown at Somerset House, with the large portraits across three rooms which linked through to each other. The portraits were life size images on the walls, by them being so large showed how powerful the concept and what was in each image is so important. Next to each portrait of a serviceman or woman was their position and name, giving you the first insight to who they are. Some of the individuals wore their uniforms and some were just in their underwear to show the full extent of their injuries. I found this exhibition really moving and extremely powerful as I have never seen something like this done in this century, it gave me a real insight into the real extend of war and the effects it has on other human begins that are fighting on behalf of our country as they are also fighting to save the innocent, when they are only innocent people themselves. Each image had a spot light on them so that they stood out against the white walls which again made the audience understand how important the images are.

I have always wanted to do a project myself, where I have wanted to take portraits of people with disabilities, however I didn't know how to address the concept and had to move onto another project. I went on to look at fashion magazines and looking at how all the people on the front covers are made to seem perfect and what everyone should aspire to, they would not show old people or unfit people, people who are overweight or even some people with disabilities. I went of to do portraits of people that would not be seen on the front of fashion magazines because of their age, size and even disability.