Finding Home: The Odysseus Project at Art @ 12

BOSTON/Fort Point - Since June 12, the Odysseus Project has been on display at the gallery Art @ 12 in Fort Point. The exhibit, featuring "work by artists and veteran-artists focusing on issues of war and the experience of veterans returning home," will run until July 25. The project is the vision of organizer and co-curator Anne Loyer, a film-maker and multimedia artist who wanted to offer artists a forum to creatively communicate their opinions and reactions to wartime experiences.

The project originally began as a photography workshop at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, where Loyer was a visiting artist. She was working with students to create pieces based on their reactions to the Iraq war, and she asked some Iraq veterans to come speak about their experiences overseas and returning home. Loyer says, "I noticed the students were so grateful to have the opportunity to talk about this issue that concerned them and their peers. Before this, they didn't really have the forum to discuss it. Getting to listen to some of their contemporaries who had served in Iraq really meant a lot to them. From of that experience, I realized that we needed to expand the project and open up that dialogue to a greater community."

The exhibit delivers a cross-generational expression of anger, depression, confusion, and loss felt by a mix of artists affected by the different wars of the twentieth century. The artists' points of view vary as their ages range from college student to Vietnam vet. Though many of the artists have served in the military at some point, just as many created their work from the perspective of a civilian mourning or missing a loved one who has been called away.

The name for the Odysseus Project stemmed from the theme tying the artists' work together. Loyer explains, "The work was created with the idea of finding home. It is focused on the notion of being somewhere, leaving, and then coming back changed. The experience of war affects all of us. Even though not everyone goes abroad to serve, we're all aware of it on some level. I wanted to have artists represented who had many different experiences. Some are very removed, reacting to what they've heard in the news about the war. Others have served, and others have lost family members. We're experiencing a particular war right now, but what's happened in the past affects what happens today, and I wanted to create the space to talk about that. It's hard to discuss this topic because it's easy to feel like you might offend someone, yet we need to talk about it. All those concerns are really what drove the show and influenced how we selected the work."

While the featured artwork certainly speaks to this notion of "finding home," many of the artists delve further into the complexities of wartime by dealing with the contradictions and confusion involved in fulfilling the role of the soldier. Some pieces address the paradox of serving to help people while simultaneously being trained to kill. Others demonstrate the damaging effects of soldiers becoming emotionally numb and battling to retain their sense of humanity. The exhibit in its entirety is at once stunning and painful, as each poignant piece of artwork brings its own message to the collective whole.

To view this exhibit before it closes on July 25, stop by the Art @ 12 gallery in Fort Point. For hours and directions, visit the project website.

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All photos by George Vasquez.