Bandages-Bullets #1, is a photograph (57 x 80 cm.) on archival paper and consists of rolled bandages soiled in water and black ink, and arranged in meticulous rows. When observed carefully, the photograph of soiled bandages could also resemble bullets. Bandages and bullets; are they so different? The photograph captures a paradoxical relationship between the bandages as tools of healing, and bullets as instruments of war.

Bandages-Bullets #1, is part of Baptist’s on-going multi-media series titled, Bandages-Bullets. This series attempts to explore the bandage and the bullet – both synonymous of war. From healing to hurting, from killing to caring, and other such notions will be explored. – Kris Imants Ercums, curator of Global Contemporary and Asian Art at the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, USA.

Bandages-Bullets #1, was developed from Baptist Coelho’s year-long Artist-in-Residence, supported by and at the In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, 2022. The artwork was first exhibited as part of the artist’s solo exhibition at Bâtiment IV, Esch-sur-Alzette, from 30 May to 14 June 2024.