Exhibitions

On the Subject of War

"We don't get it. We truly can't imagine what it was like.
We can't imagine how dreadful, how terrifying war is
and how normal it becomes. Can't understand, can't imagine"
-Susan Sontag

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How much can we know about war?
This exhibition of contemporary art raises dilemmas of recording
in pictures the atrocities and absurdities of war. The artists not
only document war but lead us to confront our own relationship
to these horrifying realities.
Dedicated to the memory of Susan Sontag.

Curator: Kathleen Gilrain, Executive Director, Smack Mellon Gallery
With support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Featuring the work of:
Bobby Neal Adams, Mike Asente, Barnstormers, Nina Berman,
Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson, Ron Haviv, Susan
Meiselas, Eve Sussman, Sarah Trigg and photographs by
anonymous WWII photographers from the collection of
Edward C. Graves

Other Resources

BOOKS FOR PURCHASE Broken Wings Photographs by Bobby Neel Adams Text by David Levi Strauss For three years Adams photographed land mine victims throughout Mozambique and Cambodia. The portraits illustrate the continued destruction caused by land mines while capturing the humanity and persistence of people who refuse to let their injuries define them.
Purple Hearts: Back from Iraq Photographs by Nina Berman In this collection, Berman photographed and interviewed injured soldiers who had recently returned from Iraq. The interviews present men and women, struggling to cope with their injuries, their own feelings about patriotism, war and their experiences.
BOOKS The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace Advocates of Peace Addicted to War: Why the US Can't Kick Militarism Joel Andreas Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since World War II William Blum Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War Barbara Ehrenreich Women and War: An International Anthology of Writings from Antiquity to Present Daniela Gioseffi, ed. Terror, Counter- Terror: Women Speak Out Ammu Joseph and Kalpana Sharma DC Poets Against the War: An Anthology Sarah Browing ed, Chorus of Mushrooms Hiromi Goto Brothers at War: Making Sense of the Eritrean- Ethiopian War Tekeste Negash & Kjetil Tronvoll Feminism, Nationalism, and Militarism Constance R. Sutton, ed. Artists in Times of War Howard Zinn

Muchacos Await
Counterattack
from the Guard
from the "Nicaragua Series", 1978
Susan Meiselas

WEBSITES
The Committee Opposed to Militarization and the Draft is an anti-militarism organization that also challenges the institution of the military, its effect on society, its budget, its role abroad and at home, and the racism, sexism and homophobia that are inherent in the armed forces and Selective Service System. COMD activities include community education, direct action and youth outreach

Veterans for Peace is an official NGO represented at the UN, Veterans for Peacewhich includes men and women veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, other conflicts and peacetime veterans.

CostofWar.com In April, 2003 the intergenerational team of Niko Matsakis of Boston, MA and Elias Vlanton of Takoma Park, MD created costofwar.com. Now maintained by the National Priorities Project, the site maintains a (downloadable) running counter of dollars spent on the War in Iraq, and provides a breakdown of tax contributions to the war by city and state.

From the book "Purple Hearts:
Back from Iraq"
Nina Berman

American Defense Monitor on envrironmental degradation and war. From the defoliation of the forests in Vietnam, to the oil fires of Kuwait, all major wars of the 20th century, and current conflicts like Kosovo, have had a hidden casualty: the environment. Unexploded weapons, polluted rivers, contaminated soil, and damaged landscapes have all harmed human health, local economies, and ecosystems.

From the book "Broken Wings"
Bobby Neel Adams

Democracy Now!'s War and Peace Report, a daily radio program hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, provides offers perspectives rarely heard in the "mainstream" media, including independent and international journalists, ordinary people from around the world who are directly affected by U.S. foreign policy, grassroots leaders and peace activists, artists, academics and independent analysts.

The Iraq Body Count Project is a human security project to establish an independent and comprehensive public database of media-reported civilian deaths in Iraq resulting directly from military action by the USA and its allies in 2003.

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