SOMALIA (2002)

Beginning on the external wall of Gallery 101 (Ottawa) and continuing into the interior exhibition space, Kennedy's wall painting installation, SOMALIA, juxtaposes the aesthetics of the military service medal ribbon with the harsh realities of international peacekeeping missions. 

For this site-specific work, Kennedy created a large scale stripe painting on the external west wall of Gallery 101, the wall which pointed towards the National Defence Headquarters, with the colours of the ribbon used to suspend the Department of National Defence's Somalia Medal. This medal was given to Canadian Forces Personnel for their service in Operation DELIVERANCE (November 16, 1992 - June 30, 1993). Inside the gallery, Kennedy painted a maroon rectangle upon which he installed an original length of the Somalia Medal ribbon alongside a copy of the Times Literary Supplement from 2001 which displays the unnerving image of a United Nations Peacekeeper kicking a young Somali boy. 

This exhibition was up at Gallery 101 from May 2 - June 15, 2002, however, Kennedy had been conceptually working with the Somalia Medal ribbon prior to this installation. In 1997-98, Kennedy created a series of 500 signed prints for Alex Magrini’s Guns for Art Foundation for their "Art Against Violence" project. This project undertook the national and international organization of a series of firearms collections where citizens could exchange their weapons for an original print by a well-known artist. The prints were made by the silkscreen print-makers at the University of Chicoutimi (Saguenay, QC).

In his artist statement about the prints Kennedy notes: 

"The print is a representation of the service medal ribbon awarded to those who were enlisted for Canada in the peacekeeping mission in Somalia in 1993. The medals have recently been presented to ground troops by the Governor General in Ottawa and to sailors who were active in the mission by the Vice-Admiral in Halifax.

The work is ironic. At first it may appear to be a piece of harmless, modernist art—perhaps an abstract painting reminiscent of the 60's (eg. Barnet Newman's Voice of Fire). In fact, it's a military medal ribbon which is designed to carry other meanings such as the celebration of victory or valour in battle or, in this instance, the commemoration of a peacekeeping mission (a job well done) by Canadian forces in Somalia, East Africa. 

The irony of this ribbon (print) gets more complicated however when we recall the events that scarred the Somalia mission. The killing and torturing to death of civilians, the tampering and destruction of documents by military personnel, the cover-up by senior officials etc. have given the "affair" a reputation as being among the most shameful debacles in the history of the Canadian military. 

Another layer of irony is added to the ribbon (print) when it is presented as art in exchange for arms—a medal in exchange for metal."

-Garry Neill Kennedy, July 8, 1997