'Veterans Book Project' exhibition, talk to illuminate experiences of war

SUNY Oswego's Tyler Art Gallery will host an exhibition titled "Veterans Book Project: Objects for Deployment" starting Tuesday, Sept. 26, and will welcome visual artist Monica Haller, the project's coordinator, for a talk on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The Veterans Book Project is a library of 50 books, each authored by a person with firsthand experience of war: a veteran of the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a veteran of the Vietnam War, or an Iraqi or Afghan civilian displaced by war. Haller works with the authors so that each book serves as "container" for the photographs, memories and descriptions of experiences of a single individual.

A free public reception for this and a companion exhibition, "Politics on Paper: Art with an Agenda from the Syracuse University Art Collection," will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, in the adjacent lobby of Tyler Hall. Both shows run through Oct. 22.

Haller -- who works on long-term collaborations with individuals and small groups, often using photography, video and writing -- will speak about "The Veterans Book Project" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, in Room 114 of Marano Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.

In the gallery, viewers are invited to sit, hold the books and read from a selection of the easy-to-read collection. Twenty minutes of reading brings the lives of people who have experienced war into clearer view, Haller says. The Veterans Book Project, designed to encourage discussion about the realities of war, has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe.

Haller's artistic practice is rooted in social justice concerns and attempts to mobilize information by amplifying the materials and technologies that her collaborators have turned to along the way. Drawing from the experiences of the individuals and communities with whom she works, Haller reactivates their personal histories, and in so doing, hopes to provoke critical dialogue around them and their larger social contexts.

This exhibition of "The Veterans Book Project" is part of a wide range of programs in SUNY Oswego's "Many Voices, One Oswego: Diversity and Inclusion Through the Arts," an initiative supported by an Explorations in Diversity and Academic Excellence Grant from the SUNY Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Humanities New York also made a grant, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tyler Art Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. The gallery is closed Mondays and college holidays. For more information, contact Director Michael Flanagan at 315-312-2112 or michael.flanagan@oswego.edu.

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