Jim Lommasson

EXIT WOUNDS

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Soldiers’ Stories– Life after Iraq and Afghanistan

 

Through October 7th

“As a society, we need to understand that a consequence of sending soldiers to
war is that the war comes home with every veteran…In addition to their own
experiences, they bring home first-hand knowledge of the impact of war on
the civilians caught in the crossfire. The soldiers need to tell their stories, and
we need to hear them. We must know the true consequences of their—of our—
actions. We must take responsibility for the aftermath of the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan as well as at home.” – Jim Lommasson

Exit Wounds: Soldiers’ Stories-Life after Iraq and Afghanistan is a striking exhibit which combines portraiture, collected images, and narrative writing to explore the “homecoming” and the process of re-integration into society faced by American veterans who have recently returned from military service.  Excerpts from oral history interviews serve to add context to Lommasson’s complex environmental portraits, giving audiences a sense of each subject’s experiences both during war and upon returning home. Exit Wounds asks its audience to take its time – both to get to know each person’s story, but also to contemplate their own place in the American military’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lommasson’s work asks us to appreciate the experiences of veterans, and acknowledge that the wars they fight return home with them.

 

 

Jim Lommasson first showed his photography at The Evergreen State College in 1974 alongside all-star staff, faculty and students: Kirk Thompson, Stuart Tilger, Chris Rauschenberg, Janet Stein, and Craig Hickman.

 

 

Jim Lommasson is a freelance photographer and author living in Portland, Oregon. Lommasson received the Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for his first book, Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice and The Will To Survive In American Boxing Gyms. In 2009 Oregon State University Press published Lommasson’s Oaks Park Pentimento.” Lommasson’s new book Exit Wounds: Soldiers’ Stories – Life After Iraq and Afghanistan and traveling exhibition is about American Veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and their lives after their return from war. The book includes Lommasson’s photographs, interviews and photographs by the participants. Lommasson is a 2012-2016 Oregon Humanities Conversation Project Grant Recipient for his public discussion “Life after War: Photography and Oral Histories of Coming Home.” Lommasson was awarded a Regional Arts and Culture Council Project Grant for his current project: “What We Carried: Fragments from the Cradle of Civilization” about Iraqi and Syrian refugees who have fled to the U.S. What We Carried will be on view at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn Michigan June 4 – October 9, 2016

 

 

 

 

Galerie Fotoland is located in the Library 1st Floor, Outside of Photoland

Galerie Fotoland was founded in 2010 with the intent of
bringing work created outside the Evergreen community to
the college in order to enrich students’ learning through
providing examples