Page 3 Profile: Graeme Lothian, war artist

Graeme Lothian, war artist

A brush with death has made one painter more determined than ever…

A war artist who was told he might never paint again after he was shot in the arm by the Taliban has completed a new work depicting British troops in Helmand Province.

Talk about triumph in the face of adversity. What happened?

Lothian, 54, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, has been an official war artist for more than 30 years. He was shot in his left arm in Afghanistan while he was working alongside soldiers from The Royal Regiment of Scotland in June 2013. “There’s no gunshot sound like you hear in Hollywood films. I just felt a whack on my arm,” the former paratrooper said.

Sounds like he’s lucky to be alive…

The left-handed artist was evacuated to the British field hospital in Helmand before being flown to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where doctors warned him he might not be able to use his hand to paint again.

But now he’s back in the studio?

After months of physiotherapy Mr Lothian regained the ability to use his thumb and forefinger but not the remaining digits, meaning he has had to adopt a looser painting style. His forthcoming book, An Artist in Afghanistan, which he published himself using the injury compensation he received, features over 100 paintings, one of which portrays of the scene of his attack.