Exit Wounds: Combat Trauma and Trials of Homecoming
Photos of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans by Jim Lommasson.
Over two thousand photos by the soldiers taken while in country, including interviews and writing by the soldiers.
New American Art Union
October 17 to November 30, 2008
Reception: Friday, October 17, 6-9.
922 SE Ankeny Street
Portland, OR 97214
Thursday - Sunday, Noon - 6PM + By appointment.
The Myth of Return
Photographer Jim Lommasson will present a series of photographs and interviews with American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The soldiers speak the truth about war, their participation, and the effects on themselves and those caught in the crossfire. This exhibit examines and raises questions about a generation of soldiers largely invisible to the American public. The stories are profound and timeless. Returning soldiers have always had to process the real and transformative traumas of battle while integrating into a new civilian culture that lacks the clarity, meaning, and sense of ‘mission’ that war can provide. But how will these returning ‘silent warriors’ shape the social fabric into which they must now incorporate? With bodies and minds completely attuned to the violence and exigencies of war, what is the psychic space these young veterans inhabit after their tours? What happens when battle-bred virtues, such as a heroic disregard for one’s life and pain, become a liability or even contemptible in their new home? Exit Wounds looks at some of the trials of reintegration for this generation of invisible warriors and asks whether they do in fact get to ‘come home.’
More info about the exhibit.
