WNC veterans exhibit arrives at Wisconsin college
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 01/14/2013 - 7:53am
The Western Nevada College exhibit "Always Lost: A Meditation on War" continues to travel the country, now with a stop at Wisconsin's Mount Mary College.
Marilee Swirczek, Emeritus Professor of English at Western Nevada College notes the exhibit at the college and an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Moved by a 2008 New York Times story Roster of the Dead, WNC Sociology Professor Don Carlson approached Swirczek and they envisioned an art/humanities exhibition that would personalize the wars — Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom — through poems, prose and photographs.
From the WNC website entry:
English instructor and retired Marine Major Kevin Burns selected the name for the exhibition from an observation by American writer Gertrude Stein: "War is never fatal but always lost, Always lost."
The heart of Always Lost is the Wall of the Dead: individual photographs with names of the more than 6,500 our U.S. military war casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001. The Always Lost project team is committed to keeping the Wall of the Dead current in honor of those who gave their lives and those who made it home.
Always Lost includes the 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning Iraq War combat photographs by David Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer (courtesy of The Dallas Morning News) with literary work by Professor Swirczek's creative writing classes, veterans and their families, the Lone Mountain Writers Group, and other Northern Nevada writers. Three Western Nevada College student-veterans are profiled through photographs and interviews to represent the thousands of men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The story and poetry of SPC Noah Pierce, who took his own life after serving two tours in Iraq, represent the thousands of veteran suicides.
Installed at Western Nevada College, Carson City in spring 2009, the original exhibition generated an overwhelming response. A guest book noted: "A national treasure." By word-of-mouth, the story of Always Lost began to spread and inquiries came from across the country. The Nevada Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, awarded WNC a grant to support the project and reformat it as a traveling exhibition. Always Lost made its national debut at the University of Wisconsin, Marinette in the fall of 2010 and continues to tour colleges, universities and veterans organizations throughout the United States.
In spring 2011, U.S. Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller jointly expressed support of the project and invited the exhibition to Washington D.C.. A generous donation by a long time local business, the Carson Nugget, through its Community First initiative, made it possible to replicate the exhibition for our nations capital. In 2012, Always Lost was recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution, John C. Fremont Chapter, with their Medal of Honor.
Always Lost has evolved into a powerful meditation on the effect of war on each of us. It has become a space in which to contemplate the personal costs and collective sacrifice of these particular conflicts, and consequently, of all wars. In the meantime, casualties continue to mount and the Wall of the Dead continues to grow.
Go here for the WNC photo exhibit.
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