MY WAR
WARTIME PHOTOGRAPHS BY VIETNAM VETERANS
(AS FEATURED IN THE NYTIMES.COM)
Debuting at The Highground, August 6 – October 30, 2016
In June of 2014, Marissa Roth went to The Highground Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Park in Neillsville, Wisconsin, for the opening of her exhibition about women who survived war, “One Person Crying: Women and War”, which was being shown there for 3 months. While she was there, the topic of personal photographs came up with a number of Vietnam Veterans that she met, inspiring her to curate and create an exhibition of these personal photographs, contributed by numerous Veterans. “My War: Wartime Photographs by Vietnam Veterans”, debuted at The Highground, August 6 – October 30, 2016, and became a traveling exhibition after that.
Here is an excerpt from Roth’s curatorial statement:
For those servicemen who had a camera, seeing seemingly simple scenes evoking memories of home, recording gestures of light-hearted camaraderie, documenting the endless protocol and efficiency of war, was a means of creating a parallel war experience where they had a modicum of control by choosing what to take pictures of. The camera enabled them to remember local strangers who shared an ephemeral smile and put into context their understanding of the implications of an F-100 Super Sabre flying off into the dawn sky.