Painter, photographer and filmmaker, George Gittoes is an eyewitness to the worlds contact zones. Visiting the battle and killing fields of Rwanda, Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan- Gittoes produces poignant, rare images of the aftermath of terror, shock and death on the edge of human experience.

His painting 'The Preacher', winner of the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1995, was completed following his visit to Rwanda in 1995 with the Australian peacekeeping forces.

In his own words:

“The Preacher is probably the most famous painting I've done. It's in art books all over the world, it's been published many times - it's even on the cover of some African Bibles. The Preacher has become a symbol of faith in Africa." 

It was during the Kibeho massacre in Rwanda. When a lot of people are being killed, and people know that they're going to die, they do things which take away their dignity. For example, they dig a hole and cover themselves with dirt and try to hide. The morning before I found the preacher I went to the latrines - they're just big holes in the ground with wood over them. I looked in one of these holes and there was a women looking up at me. She'd escaped the massacre by hiding down in this pit. She had a baby on her back and three children around her. We got them out...

While the massacre was going on people were rushing in herds this way and that way trying to get away from the killers. But I suddenly came to an area where everything was still and calm. There was this preacher sitting on a bag of wheat and he created this sense of calm just by reading the Bible. He was reading in French the Sermon on the Mount. It was incredible the sense of peace and beauty in that group; you could see people holding their hands in prayer. Now, whether you believe in the Spirit or not, what he did was give the people their dignity back.

Every time there was a spot where the Rwandan Patriotic Army soldiers weren't, I'd try to sneak some kids out to safety. The preacher had two little orphans who'd sidled up to him. He'd noticed a little window where the soldiers weren't, so he said to me "Get them out now", and I did. When I came back everyone there had been killed - but I never found the preacher. I've been haunted by him since... I hope that he survived.” George Gittoes.

This limited edition, numbered coloured etching based on the world renowned work of the same name is available to Art Equity clients in a very exclusive release throughout September 2006. 

In an edition of 60, the image was produced as a three plate coloured etching with original hand colouring in water colour.

A beautifully sensitive work, this etching captures the intensity of the original oil, whilst also displaying Gittoes unique expressionist style and strength as an artist.

THE PREACHER - (a portrait of courage and faith).
TEXT TO GITTOES DRAWING BY SAME TITLE
Text: Excerpt from Gittoes’ Rwanda Diary. 1995
Written on edges of etchings in artist’s hand, in pencil – some variances on individual etchings.

April 23 - 1995 Kibeho Camp - RWANDA.
Where just two days ago there were thousands of people standing and pleading for help everything is flattened – bodies crumpled amidst rubbish – their few possessions now useless.
This was a Catholic Girls School and Cathedral - for several years girls have had visions of the Virgin Mary – making this a place of pilgrimage. Most were seeking the protection of the Virgin Mother.

The Tutsi, RPA soldiers herded the refugees into a compressed sea of humanity - denied food and water – tightly contained behind razor wire and barricades. As the killing has moved through them there have been wave like bursts of panic – shifts and changes in the pattern of slaughter – Bodies crushed and torn, rolled in mud and caught on the razor wire as crowds in herds pass over them. These are proud people who cling to their dignity until the filth and horror of this place tears it from them.

I helped to drag a man out of the shitter ( a 6 X 6 ft, 8ft deep trench) yesterday morning. He was curled up in a foetal position in the liquid filth – he had survived the night by hiding in the heat and vile stench of this pit – but lost his mind. Later seeing him stretched out drying in the sun, shit caked – we poured a bucket of water over his face but he still would not open his eyes thinking we were his killers – (it was odd to notice) a condom hanging from his shirt pocket. He was raving and refused to be moved. In the afternoon I felt relief when a passing RPA soldier casually put a bullet through his head.

During something like this many realities operate at the same time. This afternoon as if walking through an invisible door I came upon a group who were calm. Although machine gunfire surrounded them – the bullets continually getting closer with terrifying inevitability – they remained a solid congregation – bound together not by walls but by prayer. A solitary preacher read to them from a ragged bible – he was a tall man in a yellowish coat sitting exposed on a sack of grain. He spoke in French with a thick dialect , his voice hoarse and broken – but I could recognise the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God !” – “Heureux les coeurs purs :ils Verront Dieu !” Those around him clasped their hands or hugged their children.

The air was filled with smoke like they were surrounded by a presence I cannot put into words.

The Preacher was aware of me – he was not going to plead for help he knew I could not give (an outsider with a camera) – my blue UN helmet meant little any more to this congregation. Our eyes met and in rapid succession I saw anger, despair, courage – then he smiled – the purity of his faith unquestionable.
For these people who have lost everything the preacher helped them to regain their dignity. The guns silenced for a moment and I took this opportunity to sneak two young boys past the RPA guards and through the gauntlet of killing between the Preacher and the relative safety of our position – I did not look back – the boys demanded my complete focus.
Where the Preacher was there are only trampled bodies – I’ve searched for his distinctive yellow coat but now have to concentrate on the survivors.

Additional on some etchings:

There is no end to this – are the answers here or in eternity ?
(on 1/60 only)

This place is burnt into me – impossible to feel I’ve done enough.

The air is full of smoke like they are still there – words fail.

Never easy – each time I write this it is like living it again – I never feel I did enough – and I want to keep searching for him.

Each time I write this I relive it – never feeling I did enough.

© Copyright George Gittoes 1995

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Abbreviated Bio.
George Gittoes

1949 Born Sydney Australia
1968-89 Lived and worked in New York
1970-71 Co founded The Yellow House with Martin Sharp (inc. Brett Whiteley )
1970-1990's Solo exhibitions, group exhibitions

1990 Winner of Fisher's Ghost Art Prize, Campbelltown Regional Gallery

1992 Winner of the Blake Prize for Religious Art for Ancient Prayer
1992/93  Winner of the Wynne Prize for Open Cut
1995  Winner Blake Prize for Religious art for The Preacher - Kibeho Massacre Series, Rwanda (oil on canvas)

           Exhibition of Rwandan paintings and photographs, Parliament House, Sydney

1997 Awarded an AM for his services to the arts and international relations
2004 "Soundtrack to War" Iraq

Public Collections

Australian National Gallery, Canberra, ACT; The Art Gallery of NSW; Power House Museum, State Library NSW, all regional and State Gallery collections as well as numerous private collections in Australia and overseas