Ghosts of War
Ghosts of War was one of the first collaborative paintings that April Bending and Avril Ward did under the name Shi-gatsu, which means “April” in Japanese. Bending created the textured background, to which Avril added the figurative elements, combining to create a dystopian vision of a post-apocalyptic cityscape. The ghost-like outlines of figures appear to float over the city below, bringing to mind an atomic blast and the haunting images of the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WWII.
About the Artist
Avril Ward
A self-taught artist working in mixed media painting and sculpture, the content of Avril Ward’s work ranges from the figurative in three-dimensional sculpture, bending towards the abstract in her painting. Born in Scotland and raised in South Africa, she made Cayman her home in the early 2000s and more recently founded AwardArt Gallery, which specialises in contemporary fine art. In 2017 Ward received a Gold Star Award from the Cayman National Cultural Foundation for a lifetime achievement of excellence in art. Her work has been shown at NGCI in the exhibitions Art of Assemblage (2013), Metamorphoses (2014), All Access (2015), tIDal Shift: Explorations of Identity in Contemporary Caymanian Art (2015), Mediating Self (2017), and Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial (2019).
About the Artist
April Bending
b. 1948
Canadian artist Bending resided in the Cayman Islands for ten years, during which time she was an active member of the local arts scene and worked as an instructor for NGCI’s Inside Art programme at H.E Northward and H.E Fairbanks. She began painting with watercolour in Victoria, British Columbia, being inspired by the Canadian climate, and was subsequently drawn to the vibrancy and colours of the Caymanian landscape. Her work featured in the NGCI exhibitions All Access (2015) and Tropical Visions (2019).
