ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that worth studying state-commissioned war art more closely in order to broaden the critical reflection on contemporary war narratives and military deaths. It explores how artistic interventions contribute to making democratic debates possible, with a specific focus on how gender and nation are renegotiated in relation to military deaths in Afghanistan. The chapter provides an overview of state-commissioned war art in relation to gender, nation and the Afghanistan mission and discusses the critical potentials of this genre of art, in order to provide a background for the analysis of the specific artworks. It analyses Estonian state-commissioned war art with Danish examples, primarily looking at Operation and Mission, two of the three exhibitions Maarit Murka created as a response to her experiences in Afghanistan. Both exhibitions speak to the tension between art, war, commemoration, national belonging and changing gender relations. Maarit's artwork brings up various ambivalences around Estonia’s participation in the Afghanistan mission.
