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National Veterans Art Museum Honors Veterans Day: Launches Third Annual IN WAR Series


Opens New Space, and New Art Exhibition, Welcome Home

CHICAGO, IL.—(ENEWSPF)–November 9, 2012 – In light of the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the rising need for mental health care for returning veterans, the National Veterans Art Museum (NVAM) is proud to hold its third annual IN WAR series. As part of this series of events, art shows, and performances that explores the continued rupturing of the traumas of war in everyday America, the NVAM will celebrate the grand opening of its new location, at 4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue, with a reception to unveil its newest art exhibition, Welcome Home.

Welcome Home is a joint exhibition featuring work by Dr. Charles Smith, a Vietnam veteran, and Ash Kyrie, an Iraq veteran. The NVAM will be free and open to the public with artist talks and light refreshments from 1 PM – 5 PM on Veterans Day, November 11, 2012.

The show will be open to the public from Sunday, November 11, 2012 through Memorial Day 2013. Welcome Home is sponsored by Paratech Incorporated.

The third annual IN WAR series examines intergenerational trauma: the passing of mass traumas from one generation to the next. Trauma takes a profound psychological and physical toll on survivors that has ramifications for decades. The IN WAR series will include a Veterans Round Table on Intergenerational Trauma featuring artists and veterans Dr. Charles Smith and Aaron Hughes, book readings, film screenings, workshops and more.

IN WAR responds to the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the rising need for mental health care for returning veterans, bringing to light issues facing that are too often overlooked. Welcome Home is the customary message given to soldiers returning from war. After this initial greeting, familiarity dissolves and the traumas of war surface. Veterans set out to relearn the world they left behind and their family meets a transformed person.

Of the show Welcome Home, Dr. Smith says, “This show is important because forty years after coming home from Vietnam we find ourselves coming home from another war.” Smith added, “It is an honor to show at the NVAM. It is a space of healing and a great deal of camaraderie and fellowship.”

Curator Aaron Hughes notes that, “Welcome Home brings the echoes of war trauma, that cross generation after generation, out of the shadows into the light to be acknowledged, grappled with, and healed.” In addition, Hughes notes, “Now in its third year, the IN WAR series is more important now than ever. We hold this series of events, performances and exhibitions in order to empower other veterans to expose to the nation the hidden burdens we carry and begin the process of healing.”

Of the move, Executive Director Levi Moore states, “We are thrilled to open our doors to our new space in Portage Park. We look forward to welcoming our new neighbors and friends and seeing many familiar faces at our grand opening this Veterans Day.”

For additional information about the National Veterans Art Museum, visit: http://www.nvam.org/


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