Chantal Lebrat, a former delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross, is exhibiting and selling approximately twenty paintings inspired by her twenty years of missions in war zones including Bosnia, Chechnya, and Ukraine. The exhibition takes place on Saturday, August 16, featuring artwork that captures authentic moments from conflict areas she visited during her humanitarian career.
Lebrat, who hails from Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and holds a silver medal from the National Defense, often states: "From humanitarian work to animal protection, there's only one step: same observation, same fight." Her commitment to protecting the oppressed appears to be deeply rooted in her family heritage. Her grandfather, Samuel Lebrat, was an early resistance fighter whose photograph is displayed on one of the panels at the Memorial Museum. "I think I inherited this visceral commitment to protecting the oppressed from my grandfather Samuel, whom I never met but always admired through my father's stories. His courage as a soldier, firefighter, and resistance member always impressed me," she explains.
During her extensive career in war zones, particularly with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and as an officer in the French army, Lebrat worked alongside civilians and combatants from both regular and irregular armies. As an ICRC delegate, she reminded them of the rules of international humanitarian law, specifically the Geneva Conventions that protect civilians, prisoners, and those out of combat.
Her paintings serve as genuine "war snapshots," capturing real moments from the field. In Chechnya, she would take advantage of seminars on international humanitarian law to discuss with young Russian soldiers. "Worried, they were waiting for relief, but the association of soldiers' mothers was blocking the railways in Rostov-on-Don to prevent new convoys from departing. As a result, their mission was extended indefinitely and their morale was at its lowest. Every day, they lost a comrade," she recalls. One of the paintings being exhibited and sold depicts this feeling of deliverance when conscripts finally leave the theater of operations.
Other works describe what remains of a building after an attack or the resignation of civilians facing an unexploded shell planted in the ground that has become a perch for a chicken. Some pieces were presented at the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva, while others relate events never brought to the attention of the French public. These works represent moments captured live, true "war snapshots" testifying to the reality of conflicts in Bosnia, Armenia, Karabakh, Chechnya, Kosovo, Ossetia, Iraq, and Kyrgyzstan. "All remind us how dramatic it is to push nations to kill each other to serve simple political and financial interests, and how vital it is to manage ethnic or religious antagonisms through dialogue alone," she emphasizes.
If her multiple sclerosis had not progressed, gradually limiting her walking range, Lebrat would probably be on a mission in the Middle East today, working to protect civilians. However, the disability forced her to adapt her visceral need to protect the oppressed to her new possibilities, leading her to turn toward animal protection. While completing training as a veterinary assistant, she wrote "The Taiga Affair," a genuine plea in favor of dogs. "Domestic animals are like civilian populations in wartime: vulnerable, subject to human cruelty and the absence of truly dissuasive sanctions. 'The Taiga Affair' provides truly radical solutions," she states.
The exhibition will take place on Saturday, August 16, at 5:00 PM at 244 Chemin du Vermoillon, 43400 Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Visitors should park outside the property, cross the park to the birch grove, and follow the "Workshop" arrow. Her novel will also be sold and signed during the event. For more information, contact 06 74 54 04 84.
