‘Inconvenient Stories’ of Vietnam vets focus of IU Art Museum exhibition
Jeffrey A. Wolin, American, b. 1951, R. Michael Rosensweig, 2005, Archival ink jet print, Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, ©2005 Jeffrey A. Wolin
No thinking American alive during the Vietnam War era was untouched by the turbulence of that time. "Inconvenient Stories: Portraits of Vietnam War Veterans" by Jeffrey A. Wolin, a photography exhibition opening at the Indiana University Art Museum (IUAM) on June 15, gives an unflinching account of 50 men and women who fought and lived the war in Vietnam.
Wolin, Ruth N. Halls Professor of Photography in the Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana University and an internationally acclaimed photographer, began interviewing and making portraits of Vietnam War veterans in 1992 at the same time he began a similar project, "Written in Memory," with Holocaust survivors. In early 2003 Wolin resumed his work on the Vietnam veteran project.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., then spearheading the Veterans History Project, wrote a letter on Wolin's behalf to Vietnam veterans in Indiana, which ultimately allowed Wolin to expand his network nationwide. Wolin is an official partner of the Veterans History Project and his videotaped interviews will be archived at the Library of Congress.
The portraits that comprise the current exhibition are presented alongside the soldiers' own stories and snapshots taken of them during the war years.
Jeffrey A. Wolin, American, b. 1951, Mark Scully, 2005, Archival ink jet print, Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, © 2005 Jeffrey A. Wolin
"I hope that my photographs and interviews will make a contribution to our understanding of how the trauma of war affects combatants and civilians caught in literal and philosophical crossfire," Wolin says. "Many important issues of war and peace emerge in the stories of these veterans and in the portraits themselves. All were deeply and permanently affected by the war, but the majority are proud of their service."
The exhibition, which was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, has traveled to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
This is the first time the entire body of work has been exhibited in Indiana.
The exhibition will be on view in the IU Art Museum's Special Exhibition Gallery from June 15 through September 2, 2007. The exhibition is accompanied by a book published by Umbrage Editions.
For more information about "Inconvenient Stories: Portraits of Vietnam War Veterans" visit the IUAM website at http://artmuseum.iu.edu.
