Your Art Can Help Heal The Wounds of War

In this Veterans Day spotlight on The American Veterans Art Wall (AVAW) there are three new works to that indicate the breadth of possibilities. A professional artist submits a college assignment he did soon after leaving the force. A bar owner’s bottled up rage explodes in a rap video, and a veteran who submitted what at first appears to be a generic snap shot of his fellows, reveals in his “description,” a loss of innocence that only the insanity of war can bring. But no matter if the artist is trained or untrained, skilled or novice, art reveals truth and that starts healing.

Dec 2001- Dec 2005 was a college art project done by professional photographer, Gene Park. He returned home and found no way to express what he had been through, what he felt, how his life had been changed. People, either could not relate or were no longer interested. This deceptively simple image of an infantryman is composed of the painstakingly, handwritten names of every man and woman who was killed in action from Dec 2001 to Dec 2005. The viewer is seduced into looking closer, and in looking closer, they are drawn into a reality they felt they were not part of. War is not an abstract thing that happens on TV, being debated by noncombatant talking heads in terms of numbers. War is a place where the young, who have everything in front of them like brilliant candles, are snuffed out.

Artist’s quote: We are all veterans. We stand in support of one another and watch out for one another and live life to the fullest…for them. Because they didn’t get the chance.

https://american-arts-trust.culturalspot.org/exhibit/OQKSscqR6jXQIQ?position=2%3A0
(CLICK “DETAILS” TO READ DESCRIPTION)

MY UNCLE SAM is a rap video done by Cal Williams. Not a professional rap artist, Cal’s riveting video covers his entire military career, starting with the boy who signed up after 9/11 because he had to, following the soldier through three combat tours, and return home as a man who was told he was no longer mentally fit to fight. Feeling unprotected and alone, he still loves his country and the men he fought with, but what about the rage inside? What can he do about the rage that came with manhood? Art. His rhymes and rhythms may not blow you away but the power of his feelings -- the range of raw emotions he courageously packs into this video are breathtaking. Self-taught, this diamond in the rough may have used art to find his way home, but perhaps he has found his true path.

https://american-arts-trust.culturalspot.org/exhibit/OQKSscqR6jXQIQ?position=1%3A3
(AFTER YOU WATCH CLICK “DETAILS” TO READ DESCRIPTION)


WE THOUGHT THEY WERE INVINCIBLE, by Thomas Dutton, is no more than a snapshot. It is the kind almost all men and women have in their phones at this very moment. It is not high art, but rather a record of a moment in time. Not unlike the crude cave painting of a hunt. A moment of life captured. Here is where the strength of The AVAW shines. The photo, by itself, would not be much to ponder, but because Dutton was able to use the description feature of The AVAW, the work married to its description gives a profound insight into what war is really like from day-to-day; the serendipity of war that never allows one a confident breath. Originally the description was a short sentence, but questions were asked and answered, and what is there now is honest, brutal, and cleansing. It must be experienced. Those who see this snapshot and read Dutton’s words, will be forever transformed. The ability to change a person through something as simple as a photograph is the mark of a true work of art.

https://american-arts-trust.culturalspot.org/asset-viewer/we-thought-we-were-invincible/2gH5O6JxBxE7AA?exhibitId=OQKSscqR6jXQIQ
(CLICK “DETAILS” TO READ DESCRIPTION)

All of these submissions are from the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, The Golden Dragons. All of them are part of DEMAND THE COUNT. http://www.demandthecount.us

Demand The Count is a movement, and it is co-sponsored by The American Arts Trust. It is collaboration between Jarrod Taylor and The Trust. Jarrod, a combat veteran and former infantry staff sergeant in 1/14 Infantry, did not know what to do about the incidences of suicide among those he served with. He started Facebook groups, Polar Bear Veterans: OEF/OIF, Golden Dragon Veterans: OIF 07-09, and Valhalla Can Wait. Each group quickly developed large followings, but he realized that “followers” and “likes” do not equal actions that lead to a solution. American Arts Trust is trying to help him change the passive verbs of “follow” and “like” into “express” and “demand”, by giving him a platform. It came in the form of a challenge. This platform is only as big as the number of veterans who post and specify “Demand The Count.” Until the men and women who make up one of the largest, yet least heard from segments of the population, demand as single voice… no one will listen. 22 veteran deaths a day by suicide has not registered on the nation’s radar.

The premise is simple. WE CAN NOT STOP THE NEXT MILITARY SUICIDE UNTIL WE ARE HONEST ABOUT THIS MILITARY SUICIDE. Being honest means when a veteran who has been drinking and doing drugs all day long goes into the woods and blows his brains out, it cannot be treated as a hunting accident. When law enforcement responds to an incident of domestic violence, and a veteran pulls a gun on the officers, his death is not an accident or bad judgment; it is suicide. Until the real numbers are known and made public in a way that causes people sit up and listen, no real steps will be taken. Because even though PTSD has been around since WWI, no substantive energy has been used to solve the problem. Why? Because the public has grown tired of watching war on television, and decision makers are looking at the next conflict instead of the remains of this one, and the medical industry is myopic about the bottom line. It is simply too easy to look away and pretend it isn’t happening. The daily, yet unnecessary death of 22 of our nation’s veterans is just awful enough to rail over, cry over, and make speeches about, but it doesn’t demand action, because it doesn’t seem to pose a threat to anyone outside of certain circles.

If you served with someone who has taken his or her own life; chances are there will be more. These numbers will only continue to grow in the future. Make no mistake, suicide in this context is contagious, but the contagion is confined to a community that is not known for demanding its rights. I urge you to check out Demand The Count at http://www.demandthecount.com.

FOR VETERANS, BY VETERANS is not just a slogan. The AVAW is ours to make great. Ours to make a source of pride and a source of help. Ours, to give meaning to our service. But ownership does not come free. To make The AVAW something all veterans deserve – VETERANS MUST PARTICIPATE. We can be less then a footnote in history or we can be sure that our story is told see this month's spotlights and be come a part of this epic project.
http://americanartstrust.org/art-is-the-answer/initiatives/american-veterans-art-wall.html