Portraits Of Injured Veterans Donated To Military Rehabilitation Centre

Portraits of veterans battling the long-term effects of war have been unveiled at the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre.

Artist Caroline de Peyrecave donated the paintings to the venue in Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire, to help the rehabilitation process for patients suffering physically and mentally.

The display is part of 'War Paint', a project founded by the artist to inspire current and former personnel going through recovery.

The artist told Forces News that she found it hard to choose from inspiring individuals with "visible" or "invisible" injuries.

"To be honest I wanted to paint anyone and everyone I met that had been injured in operations.

"I wanted to cover as many ages and different areas of the forces as... to help influence as many people as possible."

One of the models selected was David Wiseman, who still has a bullet in his lung from a firefight with the Taliban in 2009, which ended his military career.

Now a driving force behind the Invictus Games, Wiseman has dedicated his life to veteran recognition and hopes his portrait finds the veterans who need it.

"However low they might be, they can look at all these people and draw some inspiration and hope that they will live life beyond injury."

Group Commander Teresa Griffiths hopes the new artwork in the corridors of Stanford Hall will help those arriving "in a dark space": "Being able to look at the views, look at the paintings, reflect on the journies of the people... and then reflect on their own journey.

"I think it's going to be hopefully really motivating and really inspiring."