September 1- 7, 2005

cover story

Search and Recover Mission

Thirty-five years ago this weekend, 100 veterans of the Vietnam War marched from Morristown, N.J., to Valley Forge, Pa., in a peaceful statement against what they viewed as a calamitous mistake.

For years, local artist Jane Irish has been inspired and moved by Operation Rapid American Withdrawal, and she’s gathered 63 artists who’ve created works in response to this often-forgotten piece of regional history.

In 1970, over the course of four days and 100 miles, a group calling themselves Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) spoke out about U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, where their fellow soldiers were still dying. Wearing fatigues and carrying plastic M-16s, the soldiers re-enacted some of their own actions during the war, including harassing and interrogating Vietnamese civilians. The protest culminated in a rally in which they snapped their weapons in front of 2,000 supporters, as well as speakers John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.

For the monthlong exhibition at Ice Box, Irish wants to remind people of the power of such “heroic protest” statements. “I hope that the audience takes away an uplifting attitude towards free speech and that art can be another check and balance in our decisions in our country,” says Irish. “I also hope they honor groups that do so, [like] VVAW.”

Artist Ben Woodward created a poster mapping the march’s route, while Sarah McEneaney’s painting depicts the artist in a re-imagined mock search-and-destroy mission from the protest. “Ira Upin has done an 8-by-10-foot mixed-media-on-wood piece, imaging linear drawings of materials of war, looking like almost police chalk lines on the ground,” says Irish. “Of grenades, M-16s with helmets on top — the symbol of a battlefield burial. Bodies exploding.” Susan Fenton contributed a photograph of a bayonet knife her husband (artist Larry Spaid, also in the show) found on the battlefields of Vietnam, sticking out of a pedestal.

Other participating artists include Charles Burns, Gabriel Martinez, Melissa Ho, Mark Shetabi and CP’s own Susan Hagen. Jack Ofield’s documentary of the march, Different Sons: Vietnam Remembered, will be shown as a projection loop throughout the exhibition.

“Operation Rapid American Withdrawal,” reception Sept. 2, 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Sept. 3-5, 8-11, 15-17, noon-6 p.m.; free, Ice Box Project Space, 1400 N. American St.


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