SpeakPeace at War Memorial - Art Museum

Milwaukee’s War Memorial and Art Museum have long been strange bedfellows, sharing space in what has become a mélange of architectural forms at their premier location on the lakefront. But their often disparate missions have found an intersection in a new exhibit with the evocative title SpeakPeace and the cumbersome, though precise, subtitle, American Voices Respond to Vietnamese Children’s Paintings Exhibition.

The display includes 34 paintings by Vietnamese children responding to themes of war and peace out of intensely felt personal experiences that those of us fortunate enough to have lived without such experiences can only begin to imagine. Each painting is complemented with prose or poetry written by American children, war veterans, and established poets.

This cheerful seeming oil pastel by 14-year-old Do Nguyen Thanh Tam is titled Agent Orange Infection – I go to school with my friend.

Beneath it is Orange Crayons, Orange Sun by Texas poet Michael Mars:

when I was young, I would refuse to use the color orange

I would remove it from my box of crayons, wondering to myself

why all the other crayons in all the other boxes

in all the other countries, stood muted, at attention

refusing to at least lament its use, question its usefulness,

refusing to scream against the untold horrors it left behind

 when it rained down its orange tears on my countryside

why would you ever tolerate any orange

that wilted the leaves on trees, left vines

shriveled to the ground, farmlands barren

maybe you didn’t think you’d live long enough to see

a drawing of me with my friend on our way to school

maybe I didn’t think I’d live long enough

to want to grasp at a crayon once again

long enough to want to color the center of my sun orange

 The opening reception, held Monday evening, was a multidisciplinary affair that included music and a participatory drumming circle led by Jaymes Finlayson and David Stocker of One Drum.

A presentation by the Homeless Veteran Initiative of Veterans for Peace was an eye-opening peek into the plight of homeless veterans in Milwaukee, estimated at 300-400 per day. Poetry was recited, including a passionate one by a “Gold Star Mother” who had lost a son in Afghanistan. Members of the OCA-WI Youth Dancers performed a Chinese fan dance. 

The exhibit is fittingly located in the recently renovated north lobby to the building shared by the War Memorial and Art Museum. This makes it out of the way for visitors using the main entrance. I hope that signage in the main lobby will direct people to the exhibit. Unfortunately, the collaboration implied by the use of this shared space doesn’t seem to have extended to the sharing of information. The museum’s education director, Barbara Brown Lee, who was enticed to the opening by the sound of drumming, told me that she hadn’t known about it beforehand and didn’t think others on staff did either.

Perhaps that oversight can be corrected while there still is plenty of time. The exhibit runs through July 6.

SpeakPeace was created by Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center and School of Art Galleries in collaboration with Soldier’s Heart, a veterans’ return and healing organization. It’s stop here in Milwaukee is part of an international tour. A local group, Speak Peace MKE, has organized a companion project and exhibit of 6x6-inch paintings that is on display at Danceworks, 1661 No. Water St.

More information about the exhibit and a calendar of upcoming events are available on the Speak Peace MKE website.

My Feelings About the War, from SpeakPeace

My Feelings About the War

It’s always two: black war,

red and yellow peace, one

beside the other. Bombs on

the war side, people fallen,

bleeding from the neck.

Balloons on the peace side,

green grass and children

in bright new clothes.

Their faces are always two

Because of what they have seen.

- Maggie Anderson

Is there a "War on Photography?"

From JPG Magazine:

There has always been tension between the press and government regarding news coverage of matters of public interest. Unfortunately since 9/11 the "War on Terrorism" has somehow morphed into the "War on Photography." Visual journalists and citizens taking photographs or recording video in public places have been experiencing extraordinary interference nationwide from security personnel and law enforcement officials at all levels of government.

Read the full first article in a series of articles by Mickey H. Osterreicher on photography and the law. Mickey is General Counsel to the National Press Photographers Association.

Cardinal Stritch shows The Face of War

Summer in Milwaukee is brief and fickle. It is a time to forget about the long, cold slog of what passes for spring, to get outdoors, attend the festivals on the lakefront. Paradoxically, we rush to relax, to enjoy the warmth before it vanishes. When it is warm it is glorious!

Summer in Milwaukee; who wants to be reminded of war? Even before the change in the weather, the mood of the country has shifted. Never fully engaged at home, after ten years the nation has become tired of war. But the fighting continues. The news from Afghanistan, like the uncertain weather here, is ambiguous: There has been progress; but it may not last. The Taliban seem to have been weakened, but there is fear of resurgence once the U.S. draws down its troop strength as planned this summer. And life for the troops themselves, as well as the Afghan people remains fraught with tension. Although the daily effort to survive has become easier, the unpredictability of violence is ever present.

In the midst of these divergent summer realities CardinalStritch University has brought us an exhibition of photographs from the Vietnam War. Do photographs from that war have any relevance to our current lives or provide a context for understanding the on-going predicament in Afghanistan and Iraq? I think they do.

The show is called “The Face of War: Vietnam Combat Photographers.” Unlike many of the now iconic – and to most of those of us who lived through it, searing and unforgettable – images from that tragic and divisive period in our collective history, most of these were taken by largely unknown military photographers. Half of the exhibit is award winning work by the late Robert J. Ellison, who has ties to Milwaukee and who died at the age of 23 in combat in Khe Sanh. The rest were done by members of the Department of the Army Special Photographic Office. The emphasis, as indicated by the title, is on the people involved. Most of the subjects are individuals. They are soldiers and civilians, American and Vietnamese.

If it weren’t for some of the captions, the photographs would reveal nothing of politics or military strategies. There is no reason for fighting in the faces that stare out of these frames. There is no anger, no patriotic zeal. Mostly we see numbing fatigue.

“The Face of War” is an exhibition, but there is little impulse to view the photographs as aesthetic objects. This in no way implies that they are inferior as pictures, poorly composed, or visually uninteresting. The quality of printing varies. Some of the images have been enlarged to a point that exaggerates the graininess of film; others are lush and beautifully toned. Some are in color, some black and white. But that is not the point.

The wall text makes a point of honoring the extraordinary talents and efforts of the photographers, and rightly so. But I don’t feel it diminishes their achievements to say that it is the subjects that are most affecting, not the varying styles or techniques of the photographers. What unifies this show is the consistent attention that is paid to the common humanity of the people being portrayed.

A shirtless American casually carries his weapon, his tanned skin contrasting starkly against a background of billowing bright purple smoke. A soldier is caught in the simple act of shaving, framed by sandbags. A platoon crouches in a trench as the earth above explodes and showers around them. A Catholic priest leads troops in prayer on bended knees.

In one photo, a line of people – helmeted U.S. soldiers carrying rifles, Vietnamese women in white shirts – wade through chest-deep water. We cannot see where they have come from or where they are headed. We do not know why they are there.

Wars are fought by ordinary people. The victims who suffer and die are ordinary people. We who live at a distance from our current war must go to some lengths to avoid thinking of this truth, for we too are ordinary people and it is likely to disturb our comfortable lives. Maybe we find it possible to wage war because we can go on about our daily lives and we can enjoy our summer activities. I found it revealing to take a short break from my own reality to gaze with compassion into the ordinary “faces of war.”

The exhibit runs through July 31. A closing reception will coincide with Gallery Night, July 29, and will feature a talk by the curator of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum as well as live music by Guitars for Vets. For gallery hours, directions, and more information about the exhibit, go to the Cardinal Stritch website.

The images that accompany this post are courtesy Cardinal Stritch University.

War: Missing in Action? An interactive installation at Merge Gallery

The United States has been at war for nine years. But, while our tax dollars have poured into Afghanistan and Iraq and our young men and women have fought and died, for the most part, our attention has been elsewhere. I don’t believe Americans typically think about being at war on a regular basis. The evidence doesn’t support such a conclusion. Unless you have a family member or friend in the military (which I don’t), the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rarely intrude on our daily lives. They show up in the news with some regularity, of course, but these are wars interrupted by commercial messages—often overshadowed by commercial messages.

Along with the general public, artists largely go on about their business despite the ongoing wars. This is true of my own art work, although I try to keep abreast of world events. However, it is emphatically not true of the two artists who collaborate on an installation at Merge Gallery in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. It is called War: Humanity in the Crosshairs. Although the show has been up since the Fourth of July—no coincidence—I just got around to seeing it last weekend. Merge occupies a small space tucked away in a second-floor corner of the Marshall Building. The walls are rough bare brick. It’s a good setting for the stark, often rough images that surround you as you enter. Rows of what appear to be heavy caliber bullets (they are really metal pressure valves) are hung from the ceiling, creating an immersive experience; one must weave around them to see the work. It is immediately clear that this is not going to be standard art gallery fare.

War: Humanity in the Crosshairs is a collaborative installation by gallery owners Valerie J. Christell and Tori Tasch. They work separately in a variety of media, but their individual contributions complement each other beautifully and create a powerful and engaging combination.

This image from the installation pairs Christell’s “Residual Pain/Mines” (top) with Tasch’s image of a World War II era pin-up girl surrounded by the scrawled musings of sailors. The latter was inspired by the artist’s recent visit to the USS Bowfin, of WWII vintage. Christell’s work relates to the current conflict and sometimes incorporates photographs taken in Afghanistan by her son. Of this and similar pairings Christell says “the similarity between the gestures of sex and death is powerful.” It is indeed and so is the total effect of the installation, which has provoked many “thoughtful conversations.” I am not surprised. Art can—and should—serve many functions. Unfortunately, in my opinion, its function as the conscience of the culture seems to have gone out of fashion. But at what cost? The Merge installation seems to have tapped into an unsated hunger. Christell shared this observation: “Over and over I hear [from visitors] that, in spite of how tough the images/concepts are, this is needed.” I agree and I applaud Merge for providing it.

The mission of Merge Gallery is “to broaden audience awareness of social issues through the blending of artistic viewpoints.” Christell and Tasch plan to present a new theme related to contemporary issues and current events every three months. I for one look forward to the next installation. We need a venue for art that tackles the tough issues.

War: Humanity in the Crosshairs will be on display through October 2. Merge is located at 207 E. Buffalo St, Suite 204. Hours are noon – 4 pm Fridays and Saturdays.

You can see more images from the show at Valerie Christell’s website.