There is a certain darkness to the work of revered Canadian war artist Bill MacDonnell, who spent three decades traveling the world describing himself as a silent witness.

MacDonnell’s paintings document the impact of conflict from Bosnia to Afghanistan and revisit past atrocities.

He has inspired other artists to follow in his footsteps, and an exhibition of his work is on display at the Calgary Military Museums through Remembrance Day and 2025.

“Bill really likes the idea of ​​looking, very quietly. You don’t see a lot of people in his works,” said curator Dick Averns, who met MacDonnell and wrote about him, and who wanted to travel to the Middle East. -Orient as part of the Canadian Forces War Artists Program.

“Much of Bill MacDonnell’s work revolves around the theme of cultural amnesia. They draw attention to stories that are in danger of being forgotten.”

Averns said it was MacDonnell’s example that encouraged him to apply.

“My goal was to have this direct experience. My theory about creating art and having a critical eye similar to Bill’s is: “What are the invisible areas?” “I was interested in the relationship between oil, the war in Iraq and 9/11.”

Lt. Col. Bill Bewick, now retired from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, had taken over as commander of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment when he took MacDonnell to Croatia with the United Nations Protection Force in 1994.

“He had been to Europe and various places before, but I think that was his first combat experience,” said Bewick, who took art classes with MacDonnell years later in what became then called the Alberta College of Art and Design.

“We found a collapsed stone building with elderly people and a few others incapacitated.

“It was a low priority to dig people up because they were all deceased and we saw that and the smells associated with it. Those kinds of experiences for an artist are pretty intense.”

MacDonnell returned alone a few months later and visited Sarajevo.

MacDonnell could not be reached for an interview and was unable to attend the opening of his exhibition.

Among the two dozen paintings on display, many depict the aftermath of war with destroyed buildings.

His 1995 painting “Mined Churchyard” shows a bombed Serbian church in Bosnia.

“They’re all pretty depressing. They’re not happy paintings. There are no happy paintings,” Bewick said.

“There’s a couple with color. There’s some nice green grass there but there’s other things that aren’t so happy.”

Averns said the two color spots both came from mass graves in Eastern Europe and kyiv, when it was part of the former Soviet Union.

In Babi Yar, nearly 34,000 Jews were murdered and thrown into a ravine by the Nazis in 1941 as they crossed Europe.

“Either they were shot at the edge of the ravine or they were made to lie on top of each other and shot in the back of the head,” Averns said.

The mass grave is today a place of memory.

“There were no markers at this site for decades. You can see (on the web) here one of the monuments: a ramp with figures collapsing and awaiting their demise as they descended into the ravine .”

Averns said the second painting shows mass graves commemorating the German siege of Leningrad, which lasted 900 days and left 800,000 dead.

The exhibition is MacDonnell’s first in Western Canada since 2006.

You can participate in Remembrance Day ceremonies in Calgary on November 11 with a special live presentation of the Military Museums on CTV News Calgary, starting at 10:30 a.m. MT.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 6, 2024.