A WESTBURY artist’s portraits will feature in the Wylye Valley Art Trail, which launches at the end of this month with a range of artists in the area opening their studios to the public to showcase their work.

Helen Chester, 42, will display her moving series of portraits, The Everyday Tommy, which studies a group of men and women from Wiltshire and Somerset whose lives were taken or changed forever by the events of the Great War.

Over the course of the trail week, art enthusiasts will be able to view Mrs Chester’s latest portraits, take a look inside her studio in Ludlow Close and get an idea of how she works.

This will also be the first chance to see portraits from her new series which investigates men and women from the Armed Forces that have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Mrs Chester said: “PTSD is a condition I have direct experience of after being diagnosed, and successfully treated, six years ago.

“I became interested in this issue during work on the WW1 portraits. I was fortunate to speak to the nephew of Edgar Hicketts, a soldier who was gassed in the trenches and shortly after discharged from the army due to ‘lack of moral fibre’.

“He had shellshock or, as we call it today, PTSD. Edgar’s story was such a desperate one and a hundred years later this destructive mental health condition is still prevalent in veterans.

“As with Edgar’s portrait, I felt that it was important to tell the stories of contemporary veterans, show the individual behind the diagnosis and hopefully help remove some of the stigma associated with mental health illnesses.”

Working closely with military veterans from Northern Ireland, The Falklands, Iraq and more recently Afghanistan, Mrs Chester has recorded the events of each subject’s past into their portrait.

“I was overwhelmed by the bravery and openness it took for each person to share events with me – they haven’t even shared some details with their families,” added Mrs Chester.

“With this openness I have found that the process of working on the portrait is completely different from those I have done previously.”

The Wylye Valley Arts Trail takes place between Saturday, May 27 and Sunday, June 4. For more information visit wvat.co.uk or helenchesterarts.co.uk.