“If I get out of here alive, I will go back into education and do what ever it takes to become a better person and a good artist.”
It is 20 years since Glenn Fitzpatrick (Fitzy), a soldier in the first Gulf War in 1991, made this pact with himself.
However before he could return to education, he was faced with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, triggered by his front line experiences.
He credits the charity Combat Stress for helping him rebuild his life. In return, he now contributes a proportion of his art sales to Help for Heroes.
Glenn went on to study at Kent Institute of Art and Design (KIAD), gaining both a BA and an MA in Fine Art.
However even there, Glenn’s life was not without drama. He developed a life-threatening cyst under the base of his brain. Pioneering surgery saved him only for him to be run over by a car in Belgium, shattering his leg.
With grit and determination, Fitzy not only finished his degree at the same time as his co-students but he received an award for the most outstanding student.
Glenn has written and illustrated his ‘one hell of a life journey’ in Arts and Mines published in 2010.
His current exhibition, ‘Symbols of Society’, exploring the themes of war, and the reintegration of soldiers back into society, is highly topical in a world continuously at war with itself.
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