Aaron HughesJustseeds

War is Trauma

Aaron Hughes, Justseeds

War is Trauma

Date

2011

Edition Size

130

Media

Letterpress, Offset print, Screenprint

Binding

Loose pages, Paper case

Format

Portfolio

Dimensions

18 × 13 × 1 in

Pages

34

$ 750.00

Unavailable


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War Is Trauma is a portfolio of handmade prints produced by the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative in collaboration with the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).

This portfolio transpired out of a street poster project, from November 2010, in which a number of Justseeds artists provided graphics for “Operation Recovery” – a campaign to stop the deployment of traumatized troops and win service members and veterans the right to heal. Posters were pasted in public, replacing many corporate advertisements, to focus public attention on the issues not being discussed – GI Resistance, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sexual assault in the military or Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The action led to another collaboration between Justseeds and IVAW – an “Operation Recovery” booklet published by Printed Matter in NYC.

For the War is Trauma portfolio, over 30 artists from Justseeds, IVAW, and their allies have each created a print that addresses “Operation Recovery,” its larger goals of supporting service members and veterans’ right to heal, GI resistance, challenging the culture of militarism in the US, and ending the war in Afghanistan. A total of 130 portfolios have been created with the hope they inspire 130 exhibitions that can act as a starting point for bringing different people together – veterans, civilians, Iraqis, Afghans, and others to dialogue on issues.

The prints in War is Trauma are housed within a handmade paper cover from the Combat Paper Project – paper whose source material derives from military uniforms that veterans have cut into small piece, mixed with water, and pulped into paper as part of the healing process. Drew Cameron of the CPP writes, “The batch that I made for the portfolio is mostly created from Army Combat Uniforms that we were worn with the Stryker battalions out of Fort Lewis, WA. These are the same guys who rolled out of Iraq early back in July 2010. I also added Egyptian cotton to strengthen it. I like to imagine that the mill workers who made the cloth I used were the same one’s rising up last spring.”

War is Trauma is designed as an organizing tool to raise awareness about IVAW, Operation Recovery, and GI resistance, and is part of an on-going series of collaborations between Justseeds and IVAW.

ORGANIZER: Aaron Hughes
EDITION: 130. Each cover is numbered. Prints signed, most numbered.
YEAR: 2011
PRINTING INFO: 34 printed sheets and printed cover
12” x 16” prints (30 silkscreen prints / 4 offset prints.)
12.5” x 18” cover (Combat Paper cover with letterpress title. Two sheets of combat paper bond with book cloth to form cover.)

Associated Artists
Aaron Hughes, Alec Dunn, Bec Young, Chris Stain, Colin Matthes, Dylan A.T. Miner, Erik Ruin, Fernando Martí, Friends of Justseeds, Jesse Purcell, Josh MacPhee, Justseeds Collaboration, Kevin Caplicki, Mary Tremonte, Mazatl, Molly Fair, Nicolas Lampert, Pete Railand, Roger Peet, Shaun Slifer, & Thea Gahr

Other Artists
IVAW: Drew Cameron (Army Veteran), Joyce Wagner (Marine Veteran), Aaron Hughes (IL Army National Guard Veteran), Jeremy Bergren (Marine Veteran), Peter Sullivan (IL Army National Guard Veteran), Chris Arendt (MI Army National Guard Veteran), Malachi Muncy (TX Army National Guard Veteran), Ash Kyrie (WI Army National Guard Veteran).
Allies: Bay Area Civilian Soldier Alliance (Siri Margerin & Nave Fortin Michael Rakowitz), Marshall Weber, Dan S. Wang, Harrell Fletcher & Transformazium with Brettiny Hucks, Gayla Jean Clemons, Deon Archie, Deshon LeGrand, Temporary Services

ASSOCIATED COLLABORATIONS:
JS-IVAW Street Art Action – Chicago, Nov. 2010
Temporary Conversations – Nicolas Lampert interviews Aaron Hughes.
Printed Matter booklet “Operation Recovery” – designed by Josh MacPhee.
Support GI Resistance patches by Kevin Caplicki.
War is Trauma t-shirt design by Erik Ruin.
PTSD shadow t-shirt design by Nicolas Lampert.
War is Trauma silkscreen poster set – 5000 print run by Jesse Purcell featuring 5 designs from the portfolio series (images by Hughes, Caplicki, Lampert, Ruin, and Purcell.)

Exhibitions (2011 – 2014):
Center for Political Education, SF, CA
Veteran Community Media Center, SF, CA
Rainbow Books, Madison, WI
Maruki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Rum 46, Arhus, Denmark
AFSC Georgia Peace Center, Atlanta, GA
DryHootch, Milwaukee, WI
Under the Hood, Killeen, TX
Central Texas College, Killeen, TX
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Booklyn Arts, Brooklyn, NY
Mess Hall, Chicago, IL
Art In These Times, Chicago, IL
Bushwick Print Lab, Queens, NY
Speakeasy, Kansas City, KS
West Seattle Cohousing Common House, Seattle, WA
Coffee Strong, Lakewood, WA
Seattle Central Community College, Seattle, WA
Percolator, Lawrence, KS
5604 Manor, Austin, TX
Hot Shop Art Center, Omaha, NE
Dave Dittemore, Tacoma, WA
La Esquina, Kansas City, MO