In Michael Armstrong’s compelling artworks, dark molasses spills over the skin of veterans, taking over their bodies.
The molasses is a physical and visual metaphor for the internal feeling of post-traumatic stress disorder – a diagnosis that every veteran in the photo series is living with.
As he was capturing these veterans’ experience through his art, Michael was also learning how to live with PTSD himself.
He spent 23 years as a soldier in the Australian Army before being diagnosed with PTSD during his art education.
His subsequent outstanding work for the veteran community was recognised at the University of Southern Queensland Alumni Awards earlier this week (Tuesday, October 10).
Michael was named the winner of the Alumni Community Service Award for the remarkable twin projects Voices of Veterans, his photographic project, and Rogue BJJ, a movement studio supporting veterans and first responders.
The soldier-turned-artist completed his Master of Arts with the university under incredible circumstances. This included periods of active deployment to Iraq and debilitating health concerns.
He decided to take on a Masters after seeing Ben Quilty’s Afghanistan series while on deployment in Afghanistan in 2013. He already held an undergraduate creative arts degree and was inspired to take on further study in an effort to produce art that described an Australian soldier’s experience as an insider.
“My masters was all about trying to unify those two parts of myself, because up until that point my art and my military service were completely separate,” he said.
“I ended up deploying to Iraq just after I started. It was quite a surreal experience.”
There was no guaranteed access to internet while he was deployed. The only way Michael was able to access lectures and learning documents was via post. University staff sent packages full of study material to his base in Iraq, and he would send assignments and reflections back when email was available.
Since graduating from the university and leaving the army, Michael has dedicated his artistic career to understanding and exploring both his own and other veterans’ experience with the disorder.
The Voices of Veteran project has now captured more than a dozen veterans who are seeking a way to tell their story.
“The way every single participant interacted with the molasses was different. The molasses became the actual embodiment of PTSD,” Michael said.
The photo series includes the act of cleansing the molasses, which has become a key part of the series.
“Participants are able to point at the molasses at their feet and say there it goes,” Michael said.
“The goal is to show this vision of hope that you don’t have to continue to carry this burden of guilt and shame.”
“Those cleansing photos when you see their faces, it really show that there is hope for something out on the other side of the darkness.”
Voices of Veterans has toured across Australia to feature in art events and festivals, including the 2022 Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Australian Military Medical Association annual conference.
Michael said winning the Alumni Community Service Award was an honour.
“This is also an opportunity to broaden the conversation around Voices of Veterans,” he said.
He will bring his Voice to Veterans work to the university’s Toowoomba gallery in early 2024.
