By Katie Lange, DoD News
Art is therapeutic, and it’s often used as an outlet for service members and veterans to process stress and trauma.
Now that air travel is picking back up again, travelers flying through Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., might notice some artwork that has a patriotic feel. Pieces done by several female veterans are currently on display there to commemorate Women’s History Month.
Many of the artists are veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Collectively, they’ve dealt with a lot of battlefield and personal trauma, and they've learned to heal through the power of the arts.
"I create art because it is an important process for me to understand the world," said Iraq War veteran Amber Zora, who also has a master’s degree in photography and integrated media. "Art is a tool to convey stories and share histories. I benefit from interacting with other veterans, specifically veteran women, who are moved by my work, had similar experiences and share their stories with me."
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One striking piece, called "Her Voices" by Army veteran Christina Polosky-Helferich, contains the last names and dates of death of all 149 female soldiers killed in action over the past 20 years.
"I didn’t make this to say their deaths are any more or less important than their male counterparts," Polosky-Helferich said. "However, 'Her Voices' does want to confront and recognize that over 98% of the names burned into this patriotic surface are soldiers killed in combat before our country officially allowed women to serve on the front lines in 2016."
The pieces on display at the exhibit run the gamut -- from photographs, to mixed media made of fibrous materials and metal, to a piece artist Leigh Cortez made that included stretched, sausage-like casing.
"This material reacts with the mash of tattoo imagery painted on the canvas panels," explained Cortez, an Army veteran, military wife and tattoo artist. "Whereas, the tattoo imagery questions a superficial narrative of military culture; the bovine intestine panels represent a more intimate reality of military life."
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The artwork will remain in Dulles’ concourse C near the AeroTrain station until May. Many of the pieces are available for purchase.
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