Exit Wounds: Life After War - Soldiers' Stories

2011-02-25T15:28:00.001-08:00

“The soldier above all others prays for peace,
for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear
the deepest wounds and scars of war.”

–General Douglas MacArthur

EXIT WOUNDS: Soldiers' Stories: Mission Statement

2010-06-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

As a society, we need to understand that a consequence of sending soldiers to war is that the war comes home with every veteran. Exit Wounds: Life After War - Soldiers' Stories deals with the effects of the United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by focusing – in photographs and interviews -- on returning American soldiers as they reintegrate into civilian life. It is an ongoing collaborative effort, documenting in images and words the personal experiences and stories of these veterans. In addition to their own experiences, they bring home first-hand knowledge of the impact of war on the civilians caught in the crossfire. The soldiers need to tell their stories, and we need to hear them. We must know the true consequences of their – of our -- actions. We must take responsibility for the aftermath of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as at home.

If you are interested in participating, or want more information please contact Jim:

email: iraqveteransreturn@gmail.com

or

503.939.1939

Your story is important.

Jim Lommasson

Exit Wounds: The Myth of Homecoming

2010-05-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

During The Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest battle that U.S. forces experienced in World War II, a young American soldier stationed with his combat battalion in France, sickened from sleeping in wet and muddy foxholes next to the corpses of his friends and eating rancid food, determined he required a vacation. He left his regiment without orders or permission, and hiked into German occupied Nancy, France, where he rested and quietly swam in the municipal pool. A sign read, “Nur Offizier” (Officers Only).
Two weeks later, the weary Battle of the Bulge survivor walked back through enemy territory to resume his position on the front lines. The soldier had been awarded three purple hearts and a bronze star, but his acts of courage did not sway his superiors from arresting the AWOL soldier, and after serving in combat for the remainder of the war, was later court martialed. This soldier was my father.
As I was growing up, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the stories he told were generic, and agreed with the choppy newsreels and movies I was raised on. His stories seemed to support the nobility of serving your country as a soldier and that it was right to fight in a war.
When I approached eighteen in 1968, and the Vietnam War was raging, my dad was dead set against sending me to war. He said, “The one thing that I learned from volunteering into the Army was, never volunteer for anything.” I got enough subtle messages over the years that maybe war wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Before his death, more than sixty after the Battle of the Bulge, my father finally began sharing more intimate, painful wartime experiences, as we walked together around our North Portland neighborhood where we lived most of our lives. The walks were long even though the distances were short. His walker rattled and his feet barely cleared the cracks in the sidewalk as we ambled along. His memory ebbed and flowed, as past blurred with the present, and the new stories revealed a darker side of war.
It's clear to me now the man who gave me everything he was capable of, did his best to spare me and everyone else the reality of war. After the war ended, his generation was told to "man-up," buy a house and pretend that nothing happened. Despite all he experienced, and the pain he was withholding, he was a loving, generous father. The war had always been with him privately, but at the end of his life he began to talk about what really happened at the Battle of the Bulge as we walked, as it faded into his fog of war.
My father’s revelations gave me an idea about doing a soldiers' oral history of the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I feel that soldiers need to tell their stories and we need to hear them. The soldiers that I have been interviewing and photographing have been generous with their stories and intimate feelings. They have taught me what it is to descend into hell and then try to find their way home. Many of the details of my father’s experience are lost with him, but as I chronicle the lives of today’s young soldiers, their story is his story. I hope they can find their way out of the fog. Sixty years is way too long to keep a secret.
--Jim lommasson

2010-04-01T15:42:00.001-07:00

Life After War: Soldiers’ Stories (Comments)

Lommasson said he didn't want to construct a political statement for or against the current wars. He wanted to listen to veterans who served. And so, veterans began to sit down with him. They are loving parents; bright, ambitious students; or impassioned veteran advocates, despite their own wounds.
--Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian

Jim Lommasson's Life After War: Soldiers’ Stories is not about art. It's not about politics or journalism either. It's about raw human experience: The suffering, the triumphs, the fear, the pride, the visceral truths that confront every individual touched by the violence of war.
--Megan Driscol, PORT

Lommasson experienced the heartbreaking and profound stories directly from the soldiers themselves. The American public has been allowed to function without much awareness of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We have been told to just go shop.'
--Dahr Jamail, Author of Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq.

Life After War: Soldiers' Stories is a subtle meditation on the intimate experience of war. Lommasson illustrates through images, stories and reflections the singular truth that war, beyond a political or economic event, is an experience, and as any experience, as infinitely varied and idiosyncratic as the individuals who experience it.
-- Jonathan Wei, The Telling Project

Jim Lommasson is a recipient of The Dorothea Lange - Paul Taylor Prize from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Carlos Gallery, The University of the South, Sewanee

2010-01-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

Jim Lommasson: Life After War - Soldiers' Stories at the Carlos Gallery, The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee: Jan 18th – Feb 19th, 2010

The Studio Art program at Sewanee is delighted to present an exhibition of Portland-based documentary photographer Jim Lommasson’s Life After War - Soldiers' Stories project, which is comprised of two bodies of photographs: his portraits of veterans of the Iraq War, and the veterans’ own images of life and combat in Iraq.

Jim will speak about his work on February 5th at 4:30PM, in the Carlos Gallery, located inside the Nabit Art Building at 105 Kennerly Road, on the Sewanee campus. For more information, please contact Prof. Julie Püttgen at jputtgen {at} sewanee.edu

Exit Wounds at The City Club of Portland

2009-11-19T15:30:00.001-08:00

Exit Wounds:

Life After War - Soldiers’ Stories
Words and 2000 photographs by American Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

September 24 - December 18, 2009

City Club of Portland:
901 SW Washington Street, Portland, Oregon 97205
Monday-Thursday, 9:30AM-4:30PM (closed when meetings are in session).

Exit Wounds - Life After War: A Discussion

2009-10-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

Date:

November 12, 2009 - 5:30pm - 7:30pm

City Club Commons, 901 SW Washington St., Portland OR 97205

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs…

…144 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans completed suicide in 2008. 20-24 year old veterans are killing themselves a rate four times higher than non-veterans of similar age.

…One in seven female soldiers who were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan reported being sexually harassed or assaulted during their military service. A female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier than to come into contact with enemy fire.

…2,000 war on terrorism veterans have become homeless upon returning to the United States.

On November 12, City Club welcomes Jim Lommasson, photographer of City Club’s Art in the Commons exhibit Exit Wounds: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, with guest veteran Eddie Black. Jim will discuss the importance of documenting the lives of returning soldiers, and will share some of their stories. Veteran Eddie Black will share his story, and will discuss soldier suicide, sexual violence against women soldiers, veteran homelessness and what each of us can do to help returning soldiers.

The exhibit will open at 5:30 PM; discussion 6:00-7:00 PM; additional exhibit viewing 7:00-7:30 PM

This event is co-sponsored by the Returning Veterans Project.

Exit Wounds at The City Club of Portland

2009-09-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Exit Wounds:
Life After War - Soldiers’ Stories
Words and 2000 photographs by American Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

September 24 - December 18, 2009

City Club of Portland:
901 SW Washington Street, Portland, Oregon 97205
Monday-Thursday, 9:30AM-4:30PM (closed when meetings are in session).

Odysseus Project Exhibition

2009-06-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

FORT POINT GALLERY - Boston: June 12 - 27, 2009

This exhibition will include work by artists and veteran-artists and focus on issues of war and the experience of veterans returning home. It will take place in downtown Boston, and will coincide with the 21st Annual Writers Workshop sponsored by the Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences. Eight photographs and soldiers' interviews from Exit Wounds are included in the exhibit.

Exhibition Dates: June 12 - 27, 2009
Exhibition Location: Fort Point Gallery, 12 Farnsworth Street, Boston MA
Exhibition Events: Opening Reception and Artist Talk, A Night of Readings by Joiner Center Fellows and Faculty, Workshops.

Through this exchange we hope to encourage art as a means of communication in the effort to bridge the undeniable gap between those who have experienced war in their own lives and those who can only choose to view war from their own homes.

The Odysseus Project is working to create a number of open and safe environments in which individuals will be able to share opinion, artistic expression, and thought on the effects of the war.

FORT POINT GALLERY - Boston
Odysseus Project Exhibition
Opening; June 12th 5pm-7pm
@ the Fort Point Gallery
12 Farnsworth St in Fort Point Channel
Boston, MA

2009 Art Beat Week: May 11-15, 2009

2009-05-08T22:41:00.000-07:00

Jim Lommasson - Photography Discussion
Tuesday, May 12, 2pm - 3pm, Little Theatre
Portland Community College - Sylvania
12000 SW 49th Ave, Portland, Oregon 97219

Jim Lommasson discusses his current project, Exit Wounds: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming exhibit and upcoming book. Lommasson has been photographing and interviewing returning soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Included with his photographs of the soldiers are thousands of photos taken by the soldiers while at war.

Exit Wounds at Portland Community College

2009-05-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Student comments about the exhibit:

May 3, 2009.
I took down the Exit Wounds exhibit yesterday at Portland Community College - Rock Creek campus. The gallery provided a comment book for visitors to write their thoughts, if they wished. I share these because I'm encouraged by the conversation that has occurred spontaneously, and by it's own power. First the soldiers and families told their stories, shared their pictures, and then they were mounted on the walls of the gallery. And second, a group of students, soldiers, and friends and families spontaneously wrote about their reactions to the words and pictures. It's important to note that the viewers who wrote are probably a similar demographic as the soldiers, maybe a little more urban. The reactions are varied, emotional, and true. There are no filters, no censors, no pundits, just a (relatively) civil conversation. I'm thrilled by the power of such a simple form, pictures and words!
I appreciate the nice words about the exhibition and I am grateful for those comments, but I think the sentiment is really a better appreciation of the soldiers and their families and the truth that they speak about realities of war. They have sacrificed, they have shared their most intimate and painful experiences and deserve the support of the community. I have included all of the comments.
(I have removed the writer's names).

Jim

Exit Wounds at Portland Community College
Student comments written in the gallery comment book:

Love the display. Very touching.

Thank you – it gives a face to the faceless.

My close friend will be shipped out to Iraq in 3 months or so, and it kills me to simply think of her there. I’ve done a lot of research on the war, and I’ve learned a lot of horrendous stuff…mostly about the way our government is treating our Iraq vets (denying them healthcare benefits for PTSD, forcing them to stay at war for longer periods than they’re supposed to.) BUT NEVER BEFORE HAVE I SEEN IMAGES LIKE THIS. THE BLUNT TRUTH OF IT ALL, SEEING THE MANGLED BODIES, AND PIECES OF CAR BOMBS, HAS MADE ME SICK TO MY STOMACH. BUT, MY GOSH, IT FEELS WONDERFUL TO FINALLY HAVE UNCENSORED IMAGES OF THE TRUE IRAQ WAR. WHAT YOU DID, WHAT YOU ARE DOING, IS PROFOUNDLY AMAZING. PEOPLE NEED TO SEE THIS. YOUR FATHER WOULD BE VERY PROUD. – (Name)

People need to know the truth behind things…thank you.

This is one of the most moving exhibits I have ever seen. And the open letter to three Iraqi women has brought me to tears. 4/4/09, (This person is referring to a letter in an envelop in the gallery written by a mother of a Marine from Coquille, Oregon. Here is a link: http://mgx.com/blogs/2008/02/16/an-open-letter-to-three-iraqi-women/)
Sending my Social Problems class today and will assign and essay. Thank you! Name/PCC

We humans really have the capacity for good, too? Don’t we?

War sometimes serves a purpose, but it is never a glad or joyous thing soldiers do. Proud to serve their country maybe but never proud to kill. Though you or I may disagree about the opinions on war presented here, the opinion about human life is one that we should all share: it is sacred, no matter what language you speak or where you were born. All my love and God bless.

This is reality –– why are “they” trying so hard to put a different picture in our heads?
(Name)
My eyes have been opened to wonder what the indigenous youth will value after growing up among such violence. I hope “good” values are transcendent through all cultures.

Beautiful.

Amazing and powerful. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing Exit Wounds here at Rock Creek.

I CRIED.

We need to hear the stories, feel the wounds and change; so that my great-grandchildren will not have to tell their healing stories and exit from their wounds from the reality of wars. Thank you. – (Name), R.N. and student of art

Thank you. You gave me an idea what’s happening over there! It’s very touching. – (Name)

Brutally honest and beautiful presentation of pain, suffering, hope, man’s stupidity and resilience. Truly inspirational. The truth needs to be told. Thank you to all the vets and you for sharing and for your service (as we are asked to shop at the mall).
- (Name), Psychology Adjunct

Thank you for this visual and verbal look at this war. My nephew is a marine and although he is trained to work on helicopters – he is being readied to go to Afghanistan. I am scared. (Name), student and proud Marine aunt.

Than you for sharing your experiences! Wonderful piece. – (Name)
I just want to say that this is an amazing display that shows what a lot of people don’t know and it is so heartbreaking…war that is. What you show here is so moving and strong. Everything that these men and women on the wall have been through will forever change a part of the inside. I want to also say I admire your courage and talent to display something as strong as the truth. A lot of people don’t open their eyes. I believe you have opened a door that many people fear to come close to. Thank you.
– A National Guardsman – female

Thank you for doing this project. My Dad fought in the Vietnam War and he still won’t talk about it. I appreciate you bringing the reality of war into perspective. God bless those soldiers. – (Name)

A very moving display! I’m sponsoring a woman in Afghanistan and encourage anyone who wants to help in some small way to check out “women for women international.” The best way to “win our war” is to help support schooling and the young children and women of Iraq and Afghanistan.

I have chicken skin and a nauseating emotional response…and I thank you, Jim Lommasson, for an uninhibited display of our fucked up humanity. I have nothing in words to convey the amount of mental anguish and wonder this here display has created within me. I don’t watch the news, I don’t vote for war, I drive less. I adopt soldiers, I read and educate myself, but living neutral is like agreeing with war and death–which I don’t. Now I need to know how to have an effect…what is next in the evolution of war or better yet, anti-war. Thank you, and if you need help in doing anything to further this cause, contact me. I’m easy to find. (Name)

Great display! Made me feel sad and touched looking at the pictures. Reading the letter made me feel like I knew someone who went through this. Loved it!

It was a great display of reality!! The eyeball was amazing…Jesus Loves US.

The pictures are very touching. I’m not surprised though. Humans are capable of worse things. But I feel powerless, I can’t change how people think.

Great display, but there should be a lot more reality pictures of what the soldiers see everyday that gives them nightmares for the rest of their lives. People at home should see what they see !!! I thank all the men and women of the armed forces. God bless them…
I was moved by this exhibit!! I cried to the marine’s mom’s letter. I want to thank you for sharing this…being in the Army National Guard myself it is still hard to understand what my friends truly face when they went to Afghanistan and what they will face as they are deployed again to Iraq. I am luck to only be shipping to basic training in about a month. My friends can’t hardly watch movies like “Saving Private Ryan” because of what they have seen. Also, wearing the uniform you become aware of things, noises, looks, it’s amazing how many more whispers and glares than thank you’s you get. Don’t be mistaken, I have never been in real combat, but my friend and I were walking and a car must have backfired because of our awareness and lack of knowledge of where it came from, we almost dropped to our face thinking it maybe a weapon, how much our senses have increased. In the past, I would have thought nothing of it growing up in a small town by a shooting range. Again, I thank you for this exhibit and also for helping civilians have a small window of understanding open to them. Some may be touched and some may disapprove, but only cuz it is hard to grasp reality in the world today.

Thank you for the support!!

– (Name), Oregon Army National Guard

Thanks for serving our country! (a peace sign, a heart, and a smile face)– (3 Names)

Beautiful and humane. Thanks. (Name)

OMG

I was touched and it brought tears to my eyes. I have friends and family there now. Thank you for sharing true reality. – (Name)

REALLY INTENSE. Crazy to think that this is all happening over there while we just hang out and not think anything of it over here. Now I’m thinking of it. Thanks.

Powerful.

Why does it have to be this way? People who don’t want to be there over there. People who don’t want them to be there can’t speak or fight for their rights. Politics makes the world suffer! It’s not fair.

It’s a religious war that has been and will be going on for centuries. This gallery is a beautiful message to send to people. Thank you.

The world can be a hard place. I wonder why it takes a collection like this for us to question the way we behave. Thank you for the gallery–it’s helped me see things from the perspective of those who make this kind of sacrifice.

Very intense pictures, yet it’s reality. So many people can’t understand what really takes place, except for what we hear & see on the news & in movies. If more people saw this exhibit, I believe a greater understanding would occur.
Because of Prez. Bush & his Republican Sunday (False Sabbath) worshipping daddy – everything Clinton did good for us has been reversed. Yeah!! to Christians. Fuck them!!!

Christians are just as human as you are. So are Muslims. Your divisiveness is the kind of thing that keeps world peace & equality an impossibility.

You are the problem!

Thank you for this visual and verbal look at this war. My nephew is a marine and although he is trained to work on helicopters – he is being readied to go to Afghanistan. I am scared. (Name), student and proud Marine aunt.

Than you for sharing your experiences! Wonderful piece. – (Name)
I just want to say that this is an amazing display that shows what a lot of people don’t know and it is so heartbreaking…war that is. What you show here is so moving and strong. Everything that these men and women on the wall have been through will forever change a part of the inside. I want to also say I admire your courage and talent to display something as strong as the truth. A lot of people don’t open their eyes. I believe you have opened a door that many people fear to come close to. Thank you.
– A National Guardsman – female

I know people who have been to war and are fine, others suffer forever…very interesting subject. Thank you.

Incorrect!! Us military, we all suffer in one way or another, just some keep it from seeing eyes. You can’t go to war and say it did not affect you!! – National Guard Soldier

Words are inadequate for what I would like to express.

Very moving experience – viewing your photos, Jim. Many thanks. – (Name), PDX

I think this display is a perversion of the purpose, intended to discredit our brave soldiers and put thoughts in the minds of the easily persuaded of their own self-righteousness and cowardice. Disapprove!

I strongly disagree [referring to the one above], photography is unbiased, it’s about how you interpret it. What is perverted is your ignorance of the truth.

As a former marine, I feel this display represents the daily life behind the scenes that people never hear about. I think this is an “excellent” display and clearly shows life in other countries. I am very moved by this. “Strongly Approve!”

I’m about to join…it’s going to be tough but you have to be strong, ur pictures do speak for themselves! I’m 5’1”, I’m short, everyone says that I should just be a cheerleader but hell no I’m not like that…I’m joining the air force…let’s hope that it’ll end soon. Keep up with ur pics. Show America the ugly side of war! – (Name)

Thank you for giving me more information about this war and its affect on humanity than any other headline article could reinterpret in suppressed words. Photography is a powerful medium…

Reality Bites! and so does war! This exhibit was not a surprise after seeing it on T.V. for many years, but shows the actual faces and families of people affected and is very effectively documenting the horrible battle people fought to save the lives of many and to fight for their religion and beliefs….. Anonymous

Thank U! - Q.M.

4-18-09 (Name) Excellent

Amazing collection of photographs, gut wrenching & epic, monumental & oddly inclusive. Lends an appreciation for our soldiers, one many not have possessed (understandably). Fine work.

It took my breath away! I have loved ones who are there and thank you for exposing what they see. God bless our soldiers!

Thank you! 24Apr.2009

Perspective can be so enlightening.

Outstanding and thought provoking! Thank you. I am haunted and humbled by the photos and words.

Intense emotional important. Thanks.

Thank you for the reminder. It’s all too easy to forget.

Eye opening, haunting…I have a friend there now…he just entered “dangerous territory,” and I have not heard from him for weeks…your photos are graphic, real, and heartbreaking…this is an exhibit, and, unfortunately a war, to never forget. I hope that if you ever get a chance, tell our soldiers you meet, and the people we are fighting, that I am sorry, and it will end…in some form, it will end. – (Name)
I’m at a loss for words. It’s like I can’t find anything to say. Exit Wounds is a masterpiece, a true tale to war. The faces, the stories are amazing. It grabbed me in and did not let me go. I don’t know what else to say – J.

This exhibit brought out, for good or ill, a rush of emotion, memories, friendships and fears. I walk away from these pictures with tears in my eyes.

Thanks for this.

God Bless to you all now and for always. Let God hold your pain!

This project changed my opinions on war.

Freedom carries sacrifice. –(Name)

Thank you for this job and show the war horror. – (Name)

Thanks for serving our country! – (Name)

This is a good job. I get very excited when I saw the pictures b/c my brother is in one of the photos. He was in Iraq for one year and months. – (Name)

Thank you. - (Name)

Exit Wounds at Portland Community College - Rock Creek Campus

2009-03-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

Exit Wounds: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming
April 2-May 2, 2009
Portland Community College - Rock Creek Campus
Helzer Gallery (building 3)
Panel Discussion - Thursday, April 16. 3:00-4:30
Reception 5:00
17705 NW Springville Rd.
Portland, OR 97229
(503) 614-7213

Exit Wounds: Stories of War

2009-03-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

By Kaleb Gubernick, Cascadia Weekly

Exit Wounds, March 2 - 20, 2009, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington

When Jim Lommasson’s father returned home from service during World War II, the stories he told were the stuff of wartime legend, rarely straying from the typical, generic pro-war stances of the time. It wasn’t until decades later that he began to come to terms with what he had experienced overseas and started to tell his son his real stories of war—stories just as horrifying as the prospect of war itself.

And just as Lommasson listened to his father talk about how the reality of war had affected him, he has done the same for a group of Pacific Northwest-based veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In essence, their stories are Lommasson’s exhibit, entitled “Exit Wounds: Combat Trauma and Trials of Homecoming.”

The exhibit is not about politics, or art, or anti-war sentiments. The sole purpose of the show is to make the all-too-often silenced voices heard.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the soldiers,” Lommasson says. “I truly believe we need to hear their stories.”

The stories are told simply but effectively with hundreds upon hundreds of photos, some taken by Lommasson and others submitted by the soldiers themselves, fastened to the walls of the exhibit in large clusters. Within the clusters, it seems the entire spectrum of human emotion is on display: rage, sadness, bewilderment, grief, sorrow and happiness. Some of the photos are relentlessly gut-wrenching—shots of the charred remains of dead bodies lying desolate among dust-covered brush are scattered throughout, and some pictures offer ominous views through the scopes of rifles as their crosshairs are trained on the heads of blurry, faceless men.

At the same time, captured moments of sheer joy and triumph occupy the same space as photos of beaming soldiers with ear-to-ear grins kissing their significant others stand out among the other disheartening fare.

Testimonials from the soldiers are also thrown into the mix of photos—some haunting, some hopeful. Judging by the confessions, it seems death and destruction, two ideas the entertainment industry somehow thrives off of, have seemingly become the bane of many of these soldiers’ existences, cropping up in the form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Almost every soldier is affected by it,” Lommasson says. “It’s what you should have when you come back from war. It’s what makes us human, but also punishes us.”

Lommasson says the show has been such a success to the point where he has become surprised at how uncontroversial it has seemed to be—he was even able to reverse some negative feelings some may have harbored.

After running a nine-page spread written by Lommasson about the exhibition, Portland Monthly Magazine received a phone call from a veteran unhappy with the article. The magazine decided to put him in contact with Lommasson. He spoke honestly and compassionately with the disgruntled veteran, who said the article portrayed the soldiers as weak and helpless. By the end of the conversation, the vet was asking Lommasson if there was any way he could help with the project.

In a sense, instead of these soldiers helping Lommasson with the exhibit, he is helping these soldiers, if only by listening.

“If people can talk about what they’ve been through, that’s good,” Lommasson says. “That’s the first step to healing.”

Exit Wounds: Life after War - Soldier's Stories

2009-03-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

Exit Wounds: The Myth of Return
Photographer Jim Lommasson has compiled 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. Thie 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.’

Exit Wounds is now a traveling exhibition. A book to follow.