Operation Exposure (Justseeds and IVAW team up)

Posted to:

Chicago, IL – “Operation Exposure: War is Trauma” hit the streets of Chicago on Monday November 15th. This collaboration between the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and veterans and supporters from Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is a direct response to the suicide epidemic and violation of GI’s right to heal within the GI and veteran community. Veterans, artists, and supporters met in Rogers Park in Chicago and split into teams. They divided up posters that Justseeds had designed for IVAW and then wheatpasted the city. Teams hit advertising spaces and boarded up buildings with messages of GI resistance and "Operation Recovery" – a new IVAW campaign aimed to stop the redeployment of traumatized troops and focus public attention towards Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma (MST), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Download free Operation Recovery Posters by Justseeds artists

“We recognize that we must stop the deployment of all soldiers in order to end these occupations,” writes IVAW. “We see the deployment of soldiers with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and military sexual trauma as particularly cruel, dangerous, and inhumane. Military commanders across all branches are pushing service members far past human limits for the sake of combat readiness. We cannot allow those commanders to ignore the welfare of their troops. From multiple deployments despite PTSD, TBI, and other injuries, to rampant sexual assault within the military, soldiers are consistently being denied their right to heal. This basic right is being denied and we must organize to get it back.”

The action was part of the “Chicago in War” series that was organized by Aaron Hughes of IVAW. Metaphorically, the prints covered up corporate ads and the corporate culture that pollutes the city and perpetuates systems of inequality and oppression -- systems that create public apathy to war. Twenty different posters were designed along with three large stencils portraits that honored soldiers who have resisted the US military.

One stencil honored Camilo Mejia, a Florida National Guard Sergeant who became the first US combat veteran to publicly refuse to redeploy back to Iraq. Mejia had witnessed detainees being tortured and abused by US troops in Iraq. He served nine months in prison for desertion and in August 2007 he was elected Chair of IVAW. Another stencil honored Suzanne Swift, a 23-year-old Army SPC who was continually sexually harassed and assaulted by three men in her command while she served in Iraq. She suffered from PTSD and went AWOL in January 2006 to resist redeploying with the same unit. She was apprehended and imprisoned briefly in January 2007 and is now active in anti-war and anti-rape campaigns. The last stencil honored Rodney Watson, a 29-year-old Army Specialist who served 12-months in Iraq. Watson refused redeployment and is currently seeking refuge near Vancouver, Canada.

The stencils, prints, and street art action are meant to increase awareness about the impact of war on soldiers and civilians alike in order to get the public talking about GI resistance, GI rights, and stopping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Photos of the action:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualresistance/sets/72157625415031372/

Exhibits:

A month-long window exhibit of the prints is on display at Co-Prosperity Sphere in  Bridgeport (3219 S. Morgan Ave, Chicago) and a print mural is installed at the In These  Times building (2040 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago). The In These Times exhibit opens  on Thursday, December 9th at 5:00pm.

Opening:

ART IN THESE TIMES - Help inaugurate Art In These Times, a new community gallery space in Logan Square area. The space opens with two projects – Operation Exposure and Resourced.

Thursday, December 9, 2010 - 6 to 9 p.m.
In These Times, 2040 N Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL

Operation Exposure: a mural installation in the downstairs foyer created by the Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative. The instillation is a direct response to the veteran suicide epidemic, the continued deployment of traumatized troops, and violation of GI’s Right to Heal.

Resourced: a portfolio of work examining the state of resource extraction created by the 26 members of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, a national network of political artists.

Download free Operation Recovery Posters by Justseeds artists

Recent press from the "Operation Exposure-War is Trauma" collaboration between Justseeds and IVAW in Chicago.

1. Two great articles by Fruzsina Eördögh. The second article shares our frustrations with the ad companies that cover up anything meaningful that is placed in the city.

a) Chicago Art Magazine "Veterans Bring the War Home" http://chicagoartmagazine.com/2010/11/veterans-bring-the-war-home-chicago-in-war/

b) Chicago Art Magazine: "Veteran Street Art Defaced" http://chicagoartmagazine.com/2010/11/veteran-street-art-defaced/

2. Insight from Dan S. Wang at Proposition Press: http://prop-press.typepad.com/blog/2010/11/they-winter-soldiered-on.html

3. Article by Austin McCann on Common Dreams that reviews the "Chicago in War" series: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/08-7

4. Brooklyn Street Art: http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=16308

5. Groundswell blog: http://blog.groundswellcollective.com/2010/11/23/iraq-veterans-against-the-war-and-just-seeds-combine-forces-for-operation-exposure-war-is-trauma/