Rhiwbina Living Issue 57

efore starting my own agency on
Museum Place in 2002.
"All this time, I kept up with the
illustration and artwork, illustrating
a number of books and producing
comic strips and cartoons here
and there. Then in 2009, Caroline
pointed me towards a degree
course in Illustration that had just
started in Cardiff School of Art and
Design and so the move back to
illustration and art fully began."
It would be a decision that would
steer Dan's career away from the
city - and into possibly the most
dangerous place on earth at that
time.
"I enrolled on the course and then
remained at the school teaching
on the same course for a number
of years after that. It was during
my time there that I discovered
War Art with a rich history of artists
accompanying the armed forces
during times of conflict.
"When I learned that the practice
still existed and with 14 years of
Territorial Army experience with
7th Parachute Regiment Royal
Horse Artillery behind me, I knew
what I wanted to do. So, after a
lengthy process of research and
communications with a number of
Army regiments, I found myself in
Helmand Province Afghanistan in
the winter of 2011.
"The Regiment felt that a War
Artist could help them capture the
feelings and experiences of their
time in a way that photographs
could not. So after months of
preparation, form filling, phone
calls, visa requests and Hostile
Environment Training, I found
myself on a Cyprus Airways flight
out of Brize Norton.
"Many hours later and after a
lengthy stop at a place called
Minhad, near Dubai UAE, I climbed
onboard a C130 Hercules aircraft
and flew in darkness into Camp
Bastion, where I was met in the
early hours by the Media Ops team."
Dan's own TA training helped him
slot into the challenging everyday
life of the army.
"I was embedded with the 1st
The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, The
Welsh Cavalry, and joined them for
a month as they conducted patrols
and combat operations across
Helmand.
"When I first got there, they weren't
so sure of what I was doing there,
and how I'd fit in. But within about a
week, I was out patrolling on foot.
A few weeks later, I was out on
operations with explosions going
off all around me and bullets flying
over my head."
Some of the soldiers thought that I
was a bit crazy.
"They told me 'You must be
mad, sir, carrying a pencil and not
carrying a weapon.' But I told them
that's what they were there for - so
that I can look, and they can look
after me."
It was often during the soldiers'
down times that Dan got to see the
real characters behind the uniforms,
and to sketch them.
"Those are the moments that
mattered; it's that time after the
frenzied action that's taken place,
in which they can contemplate
what's just occurred. It was my job
to capture that moment.
"There were places and moments
I'll remember forever. As we drove
through the notorious town of
Gareshk in open top armoured
vehicles called Jackals, each with
a top gunner armed with either a
50 cal machine gun or a 40mm
cannon, I kept my eyes peeled for
the grenades that have, in the past,
been thrown into the vehicle from
within the crowds that throng in
the busy market places. Gareshk
itself was like a bizarre medieval
bazaar with fruit and veg stalls right
next to blackened oily motorbike
garages. The people walk the litter
strewn dirt tracks and pathways
often burdened with great bundles
of goods, from sticks and reeds to
dirty yellow plastic containers, oily
spare parts and scrap.
"During my time with the group,
as well as dealing with bullets
and IEDs (Improvised Explosive
Devices), I drew pictures and made
paintings that have been published
in books and exhibited throughout
the UK and Europe."
Dan's talents have also earned him
a number of awards along the way,
including the Lord Mayors Award
for Design (Swansea 2004), Cardiff
Design Festival (2012), the Best
of Welsh Design Award (Winner
Illustration), the Linda Kitson
Prize (2013), and AAS (2013 Highly
Commended). He also became the
artist behind the first pack of Welsh
Political Figures collectible playing
cards.
"Since Helmand, I have produced
reportage illustrations for the
Royal Navy, rescuing refugees and
migrants off the coast of Libya in the
Mediterranean, the British Council,
the BBC and UNHCR in places like
Refugee Camps in Bangladesh,
and for the NHS in the Dragon’s
Heart Hospital, the Covid Hospital
that was built within the grounds of
the Millennium Stadium during the
pandemic."
For someone that likes to keep
his hands busy, Dan has also taken
on a dream that had been floating
around his head for many years:
"I opened my own shop in 2021
after spending a year renovating the
place."
It seems that the Peterson legacy
that stretches back over a century
will continue in Rhiwbina for some
time yet.