War is Trauma is a print portfolio project co-organized by the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Over 30 artists from Justseeds, IVAW, and their allies have each created a print that either addresses GI resistance or “Operation Recovery” – the IVAW campaign launched in 2010 aimed at stopping the redeployment of traumatized troops and garnering public attention for military-related issues, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma (MST), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Ultimately the campaign seeks to prevent the US military from waging war in the Middle East.

War is Trauma seeks to draw attention to oft-ignored facts about military life and experience: there is a suicide epidemic amongst GI’s and veterans, 20% of deployed soldiers are on at least one psychotropic medication, and close to 20% of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD. Many of these same soldiers are then being redeployed back to the front lines to fight an endless war in which three to four tours of duty are commonplace. Aaron Hughes from IVAW notes, “We recognize that we must stop the deployment of all soldiers in order to end these occupations. 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.”

Contributors: Josh MacPhee (Brooklyn), Mary Tremonte (Pittsburgh), Kevin Caplicki (Brooklyn), Chris Stain (Queens), Thea Gahr (Portland, OR), Bec Young (Pittsburgh), Erik Ruin (Providence), Pete Yahnke Railand (Milwaukee), Alec Dunn (Portland, OR), Colin Matthes (Milwaukee), Nicolas Lampert (Milwaukee), Jesse Purcell (Montreal), Roger Peet (Portland, OR), Molly Fair (Brooklyn), Santiago Armengod (Mexico City), Shaun Slifer (Pittsburg), Dylan AT Miner (E. Lansing), Drew Cameron (Army Veteran, Vermont), Joyce Wagner (Marine Veteran, Pittsburgh), Aaron Hughes (IL Army National Guard Veteran, Chicago), Jeremy Berggren (Marine Veteran, North Carolina), Peter Sullivan (IL Army National Guard Veteran, Chicago), Chris Arendt (MI Army National Guard Veteran, Michigan), Malachi Muncy (TX Army National Guard Veteran, Texas), Ash Kyrie (WI Army National Guard Veteran, Wisconsin), and posters from the Bay Area Civilian Soldier Alliance members Siri Margerin and Nave Fortin, Michael Rakowitz (Chicago), Marshall Weber (Booklyn Artists Alliance, Brooklyn), Dan S. Wang (Madison, WI), Harrell Fletcher and Transformazium with Brettiny Hucks, Gayla Jean Clemons, Deon Archie, Deshon LeGrand (Portland, OR / Braddock, PA), Temporary Services (Chicago, Philadelphia, Copenhagen)

Portfolio edition: 130, 34 prints in each set
Size of individual prints: 12″ x 16″
Print mediums: silkscreens, linocuts, and lithographs.
Each portfolio is signed and numbered. Each print is on archival paper.

War is Trauma prints 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 pieces, mixed with water, and pulped into paper as part of the healing process. 15 portfolios pre-sold from Booklyn include a drawing from Aaron Hughes. Sponsors will also be credited in an acknowledgments sheet within the portfolio

LINKS
Justseeds-IVAW Chicago action:
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2010/11/bringing_the_war_home_through.html
http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/art-design/95791/seeds-of-change
past Justseeds portfolios:
http://justseeds.org/resourced/
http://justseeds.org/criticalresistance/
IVAW Operation Recovery:
http://www.ivaw.org/operation-recovery
Combat Paper Project:
http://www.combatpaper.org/

Pre-publication Portfolio Sponsors as of December 1, 2011:
1. Leatherby Libraries, Chapman University, Orange, CA
2. Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA
3. Jaffe Center for Book Arts, Florida Atlantic University Libraries, Boca Raton,FL
4. Skillman Library, Lafayette College, Easton, PA
5. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
6. The Art and Architecture Library of Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
7. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
8. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
9. University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
10. The Labadie Collection, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
11. David W. Kiehl, New York, NY
12. Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
13. The Robert Haas Family Arts Library at Yale University, New Haven, CT
14. and 15. Private Collection