®*1* |3orHanii O bserver
August IO. 2011
Page
5
Veterans Find Peace by Making Art
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
“ I live w ith the w ar every d ay ,”
said D aniel Shea o f V eterans for
Peace and curator o f A T enacity o f
H ope, an art exhibit at Portland State
U niversity. “ E veryday it’s in my
head and I c a n 't erase it, but w hen
1 do this [art] I forget about it.”
U sing art as a path to healing,
veterans from W orld W ar II to V iet
nam to present day Iraq and A f
ghanistan displayed their w ork in
conjunction w ith a four-day V eter
ans for Peace convention held last
w eekend in P o rtla n d .
In neat rectangular
fram es, disturbing and
beautiful im ages and
paintings by m en and
w om en w ho once
m arched into com bat
and the living hell o f
w a r w e re s p la s h e d
across the w hite w alls
o f the L ittm an G allery.
Each artist told d if
ferent stories o f co m
bat, but all the veterans
shared the com m on’re-
agent orange victim . He said he
becam e a w ar resister after he lost
his th ree-year old son to heart d is
ease, cleft palate and oth er abnor
m alities as a consequence to prior
chem ical w arfare exposure.
Like m any returning soldiers, he
felt betrayed by the U.S. g o v ern
m ent. “T hey sent us to kill or be
killed and there was a price to pay for
th at,” he said.
As visitors and locals gazed into
th eex h ib it’sim ag eso fm ay h em co n -
trasted w ith vibrant colors o f blood,
bom bs exploding, arid landscapes.
“ We are all wounded in some form, ” said Veterans for Peace artist Daniel Shea. His painting,
Wounded Reflections: a Portrait o f Dave Cline, portrays the former president o f Veterans for Peace
and founder o f the Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility group.
sistance to war.
Bill Bires, an elderly
m an once drafted into
the K orean W ar, said
the art clearly i llustrates
the uselessness o f re
sorting to violence to
solve problem s.
A soldier with flowers as illustrated by
“ Art gives them the Tomer Hanuka.
opportunity to tell their
story,” said Shea, w ho displayed child soldiers, and guns shooting
tw o, big colorful w orks in the show . red flowers, other V eterans for Peace
A s an escape, a distraction, “ the m em bers w andered in from a day o f
process took m e aw ay from things sem inars and w orkshops.
that plagued m y m ind.”
M ichael M arceau o f K ensington,
Shea is a V ietnam veteran and M d ., w ho w as critically injured in a
1970 rocket attack, said he resists Like other Veterans for Peace, he th e jo u r n e y , b r o a d e n in g th e ir
w ar by enlightening students about advocates “toend these illegal wars” . know ledge o f oth er cultures, art,
the “ reality o f life in the m ilitary.”
For the survivors, returning home r e lig io n , la n g u a g e , a n d th e ir
T hough he is com m itted to non from w ar is another hell o f its own; strength against such adversity.
violence, his enem ies are the re whether suffering from physical inju
The V eterans for Peace a d v o
cruiters w ho lure kids into jo in in g ries or post traum atic stress disorder, cates say soldiers that w ill return
the m ilitary with unrealistic ed u ca the path to peace is not an easy one. hom e from Iraq and A fghanistan
tion opportunities and false, rom an
M ost often, form er soldiers find should look forw ard to being e m
ticized visions o f war.
refuge w ith those w ho served b e braced by a com m unity that is w ill
“ Recruiters are like salesm en,” he side them and other com rades o f ing to hear their story, w ithout ju d g
said, “They tell you everything, but war, w here they can rem em ber the ment.
the true costs o f war,” said M arceau. good things; the people m et along
“This is hope,” said Shea.
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