ACTION LADIES
Lance Corporal Rachel Clayton tidies her hair into a French plait to keep it neat under her helmet. Lieutenant Jessica French shelters from the desert heat to clean her 9mm Sig Sauer pistol. A basic handmade sign offers some rare, but much coveted, privacy in the shared unisex shower tent. Just three of the fascinating scenes captured by photographer Alison Baskerville on a recent trip to Afghanistan, where she set out to record the day-to-day lives of Britain’s female soldiers. 
Clockwise from left: Captain Alice Homer is an officer with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. She has just spent six months running a section of soldiers in Camp Bastion; Lance Corporal Rachel Clayton tidies her hair before a patrol; Patrol bases in Helmand have limited showering facilities, which often consist of a hosepipe in a tent and only one shower for both men and women
Baskerville, who began her career in the RAF and served in Bosnia and Iraq before turning to photography full time, had unparalleled access to the soldiers as they went about their lives, whether in the field, working with local communi-ties, or relaxing back at camp over an episode of Downton Abbey.
Captain Anna Crossley’s language training has helped her gain access to compounds and the residents are intrigued by her. She often pretends to have a ‘Helmand husband’ to gain rapport with the women, who do not understand the ‘single woman’ concept
The images, taken earlier this year on a trip supported by the Royal British Legion, have been brought together for an exhibition, The White Picture: The Hidden World Of Women In Combat, at the gallery@oxo on London’s South Bank. And they reveal only too clearly the vital role that women play on and around the battlefield. Many of the images bring to life the work of the British Army Female Engagement Officers (FEOs), who build relationships with local women, often in some of the most hostile regions.
Captain Harriet Church (left), a qualified army vet, and Lieutenant Jessica French, prepare to head out on a joint patrol to engage with local Afghan families, to train them in basic veterinary care. It is often the children’s responsibility to look after the livestock
For the female troops in Afghanistan, it is dangerous, dirty work – toiletries, sent over by friends and family back in Britain, are a rare luxury and clothes must be washed in buckets – but Baskerville’s photographs also reveal the humour and inventiveness with which these brave women go about it. They are heroines, one and all.
Clockwise from left: Jessica escapes to the very different world of period drama; Non-issue underwear is a way for the women to keep a sense of their own identity and to add some colour to their surroundings; Jessica takes time to clean her 9mm Sig Sauer pistol
For more information about Alison Baskerville and her work, visit www.alisonbaskerville.co.uk
The White Picture exhibition runs until 11 November at gallery@oxo Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London SE1.
Clockwise from left: Captain Alice Homer is an officer with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. She has just spent six months running a section of soldiers in Camp Bastion; Lance Corporal Rachel Clayton tidies her hair before a patrol; Patrol bases in Helmand have limited showering facilities, which often consist of a hosepipe in a tent and only one shower for both men and womenBaskerville, who began her career in the RAF and served in Bosnia and Iraq before turning to photography full time, had unparalleled access to the soldiers as they went about their lives, whether in the field, working with local communi-ties, or relaxing back at camp over an episode of Downton Abbey.
Captain Anna Crossley’s language training has helped her gain access to compounds and the residents are intrigued by her. She often pretends to have a ‘Helmand husband’ to gain rapport with the women, who do not understand the ‘single woman’ conceptThe images, taken earlier this year on a trip supported by the Royal British Legion, have been brought together for an exhibition, The White Picture: The Hidden World Of Women In Combat, at the gallery@oxo on London’s South Bank. And they reveal only too clearly the vital role that women play on and around the battlefield. Many of the images bring to life the work of the British Army Female Engagement Officers (FEOs), who build relationships with local women, often in some of the most hostile regions.
Captain Harriet Church (left), a qualified army vet, and Lieutenant Jessica French, prepare to head out on a joint patrol to engage with local Afghan families, to train them in basic veterinary care. It is often the children’s responsibility to look after the livestockFor the female troops in Afghanistan, it is dangerous, dirty work – toiletries, sent over by friends and family back in Britain, are a rare luxury and clothes must be washed in buckets – but Baskerville’s photographs also reveal the humour and inventiveness with which these brave women go about it. They are heroines, one and all.
Clockwise from left: Jessica escapes to the very different world of period drama; Non-issue underwear is a way for the women to keep a sense of their own identity and to add some colour to their surroundings; Jessica takes time to clean her 9mm Sig Sauer pistolFor more information about Alison Baskerville and her work, visit www.alisonbaskerville.co.uk
The White Picture exhibition runs until 11 November at gallery@oxo Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London SE1.