War is a subject that has fascinated artists for centuries and a recently opened exhibition at Richmond’s Riverside Gallery has given young artists the opportunity to create their own art inspired by past and present conflicts, writes Will Gore.

Impacts of War features work by a group of Year Nine students from Orleans Park School, with the project being led by Orleans House Gallery’s artist in residence Chris Rainbow.

The project got under way in October, the students met volunteers to hear their experiences of warfare, ranging from the Second World War to the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. They also visited the Royal Star and Garter Home and Kneller Hall Military Music Academy to speak to former and active servicemen and women.

Rainbow says that, although many of the young participants were interested first and foremost in the artistic side of things, it didn’t take them long to become engaged with the project’s over-riding theme.

He explains: “When we started, most of the group said the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were the only ones they were aware of, apart from World War One and Two, but I think everything we have looked at has given them a broader understanding.

“As the project developed, they were able to put the stories they were hearing into context. The first people we spoke to were refugees in an English as a second language class and the last place we went to was Kneller Hall. By that stage, they were really grilling the people they were speaking to.”

The exhibition features a collage of images entitled I Remember A Cherry Tree, that tells the story of an Afghani woman forced to flee her homeland at the end of the 70s, and a collection of grid poems that the participants created from the stories they heard from the volunteers.

The collage reflects the fact that Rainbow exposed the group to a range of art inspired by war, from paintings to films and graphic novels.

Impacts of War, Riverside Gallery, Richmond, until May 8. For more information, visit richmond.gov.uk/riverside_ gallery