Title: Occupations
Medium: Digitally printed book; graphite, conte, digital collage, transcribed interview
Dimensions: 8.25 in. W x 11 in. H; 63 pages
Date: 2017
Personal project: Collection of five personally-conducted interviews and one spoken word piece from Veterans for Peace activists in the Twin Cities and Iowa City areas, discussing their experiences prior to and following their involvement in the United States Military, and their decisions to become involved in Veterans for Peace.
Due to length and nature of this project, audio recordings and full written transcripts are not available. However, Alt Text image descriptions are still included below.
Alt Text: Cover. Alt Text: Full page image in middle third of page depicting side view of black military helmet drawn in white line on black background, with icon of white dove in flight painted on helmet.
Alt Text: White title page, no imagery present, book title "Occupations" presented in upper third of page.
Alt Text: Chapter spread. Black pages with no imagery. On right page, in white type in upper third of page reads "Part I: Going There//So I Went."
Alt Text: Left page; on black background, in white ink, a frame depicts a hand-drawn map of Vietnam, and partial views of China, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. Vietnam interior is painted in ink washes. Right page; in same location this map is torn apart; underneath, dozens of names of countries militarily engaged by the U.S. since Vietnam are visible.
Alt Text: Left page, on black background, five frames show five ink and graphite portraits of the individuals interviewed in this book, with their military deployment dates listed. Interviewees are Dick Foley, John Jadryev, John Varone, Paul Appell, and John Ivens. Right page, all text, no imagery.
Alt Text: Left page, all text, no imagery. Right page, as text ends, remaining page shows larger version of hand-drawn, ink wash map of Vietnam and its territorial interior.
Alt Text: Chapter spread. Black pages with no imagery. On right page, in white type in upper third of page reads "Part II: What Was Done//Occupations."
Alt Text: Full page spread. On left, a crumpled, grey collection of documents with white text details of attempted coverup of U.S. airstrike killing of two Iraqi journalists on July 17, 2007. Right page, on black background, depicts sequential footage of moments of this event, as well as transcribed audio of soldiers as they kill a possible total of eighteen individuals, and wound two children.
Alt Text: Left page; on all black background, towards bottom of page is white ink drawing of what appears to be a pair of bare feet laying sideways in a patch of grass, a small pool of liquid trailing from them. The owner of the feet unseen in the darkness. Right page; all text, no images.
Alt Text: Full page spread. Spread dominated by a partial view of a massive, black wall. A blue sky, with U.S. flags is just in view. A figure walks at the base of the wall, dwarfed by its size. In upper right, handwritten text reads "When I went to the wall in D.C. it has 55,000 U.S. soldiers, there's nothing about the Vietnamese. There would be three to five million, for three to four miles."
Alt Text: Left page, all text, no images. Right page, small, black ink drawing embedded in text. Image is three loose, drawings of bombs over a splatter of loose ink.
Alt Text: Full page spread. Next to single column of text on left page, full image dominates spread. Painted in greens, yellows, browns and blacks, large bombs in mid-fall are depicted above torn pieces of newspaper. Seemingly carved into the metal chassis of each bomb are dozens of tally marks, reminiscent of a rifle or other weapon's kill count.
Alt Text: All text, no images.
Alt Text: Full spread. Spread dominated by single image in a drawn frame. On left is a hunched figure, head, down, seated on a pile of sandbags, hands dripping orange, an orange-tinged rifle at its feet. Other figures near a line of barbed wire crouch over something in background. Lying to the right, almost out of view, is a pair of sandaled feet.
Alt Text: All text, no images.
Alt Text: Full page spread. Surrounded thick, black brushstrokes and situated in front of a scratched background of brown and red paint is a drawing of a Vietnamese family of two adults, two children, and an elder relative. Scribbled over their faces are crude ski masks. A single red line is drawn towards the forehead of each figure, terminating in a red "X."
Alt Text: Left page, embedded in text is ink drawing of dozens of spent bullet cartridges. Right page, two collaged pieces of correspondence from interviewee John Varone, the most visible a letter, dated April 9, 1970, detailing his impending return to the U.S. from active duty.
Alt Text: Chapter spread. Black pages with no imagery. On right page, in white type in upper third of page reads "Interlude//Chante Wolf."
Alt Text: Full page spread. Left and right pages show scanned correspondence dated 2013 from Congressional Member Jackie Speier to the Secretary of Defense detailing ongoing examples of sexual harassment, abuse, assault, and misogynistic social media groups present within U.S. Armed Forces.
Alt Text: Left page, on black paper, a frame has been drawn in white pencil. Barely visible, is a leered smile and partial face, emerging from shadow. Right page, embedded in text is graphite and ink portrait of Chante Wolf, with her military deployment dates listed.
Alt Text: Left and right page each depict a full page, painted portrait of a marine in uniform dress, U.S. flag behind him. Eyes from photos have been collaged over their faces, which, underneath the collaged eyes appear to be distorted and leering. Below each portrait is a violent or otherwise obscene quote from a U.S. Marine social media group about a woman.
Alt Text: As with prior spread, left and right page each depict full page, painted portraits of marines in uniform, U.S. flag behind him. Eyes from photos have been collaged over their faces, which, underneath the collaged eyes appear to be distorted and leering. Below each portrait are additional violent quotes from U.S. Marine social media group about women.
Alt Text: Full page spread. Left and right pages show now-crumpled, earlier correspondence from Congressional Member Jackie Speier. Now visible, in white type on black paper, are additional reports, dated 2017 of sexual harassment, assault and misogyny within U.S. Armed Forces.
Alt Text: Chapter spread. Black pages with no imagery. On right page, in white type in upper third of page reads "Part III: Coming Back//Coalescing."
Alt Text: Full page spread. In white text on black background, as well as brown, crumpled paper, documents detail studies on increased birth defects in Iraqi warzones due to pollution from bombs and military waste. Overlaid these documents are graphite drawings of deformed hands of children resulting from this pollution.
Alt Text: Left page; interrupting a black background, a white doorway is visible in center of page. Illuminated by the doorway, back to the viewer, standing in a patch of grass, a soldier in combat fatigues, loosely holding a rifle, stands looking into the light. The soldier's head appears to have been scratched out with graphite. Right page, all text, no images.
Alt Text. Full page spread. On left, underneath column of text, is an ink drawing of a single feather. Spread across both pages is also a large image of a decimated forest depicted in black and brown inks. Underneath in handwritten text reads "And we all felt we failed them, okay? That we didn't live better lives. We had twice the opportunity and we squandered a lot of that."
Alt Text: Left page, all text, no images. Right page, greyscale ink spot illustration embedded in text. In sprawling, violently scratched text, written over a particularly dark splatter of ink, are the names of dozens of countries, all occupied or otherwise militarily-engaged by the U.S. at some point in history following the U.S. invasion of Vietnam.
Alt Text: Left page, all text, no images. Right page, small, black ink spot illustration embedded in text, depicting profile view of figure's head, drawn sketchily, evoking a sense of unease. By nature of the black ink and paint, the mouth of the figure has been fully covered by a brush stroke.
Alt Text: All text, no images.
Alt Text: Full page spread. Next to single column of text on right page, a drawn image dominates composition. In foreground a figure in a coat, painted in heavy, black ink, looks downwards. Behind the figure is a jumbled cityscape drawn in thin pencil lines, the lines jagged and uneasy.
Alt Text: Left page, no images. Right page, full page image repeating cover image of side view of black military helmet drawn in white line on black background, with icon of white dove in flight painted on helmet.
Alt Text: Acknowledgments page, no images.