The Veterans Book Project will be unveiled at Fredonia when its creator, visual artist Monica Haller, discusses the collection of first-hand experiences conveyed by veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan wars, on Thursday, Nov. 6, from 8:30 to 10 p.m. in McEwen Hall Room 209.
In 2005, motivated by a desire to understand the two wars, Ms. Haller began asking veterans and others who experienced those wars to share their recollections with her. Four years later, she facilitated bookmaking workshops around the country where veterans and others could organize their personal archives and writing to create manuscripts to be published as print-on-demand books and free downloads.
The 50 softbound books that comprise the Veterans Book Project library were authored by veterans, members of a veteran’s family or Iraqi and Afghan civilian refugees, with assistance from Haller. Since most volumes are designed to be read quickly, viewers typically experience an immediate sense of the realities of war through photographs and first-person narratives which can lead to meaningful discussions about war. Each book stands independent of and in concert with the overall collection.
The Veterans Book Project collection will remain a part of the Reed Library holdings following the exhibition, thus enabling faculty to utilize it in an ongoing way. The library’s lobby gallery will become an interactive reading room, welcoming visitors to sit and read.
Haller, whose visit is sponsored by the Department of Visual Arts and New Media’s Visiting Artist Program, has a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies and an M.F.A. in Visual Studies.
