Iraq Veterans Against the War

Combat Paper, 2007, Volume I, edition of five, six pulp paper prints in an envelope of pulp paper, all paper made from the shredded uniforms of members of Iraq War Veterans Against the War. Coordinated by Drew Matott and Drew Cameron of Green Door Studio.

Collections of: Boston Athenaeum, Lafayette College, Library of Congress, Western Carolina University.

Recent Exhibitions, 2007, “Mutanabbi Street: An Exhibition of Broadsides”, San Francisco Center for the Book, curator Kathleen Walkup, Director of the Book Arts Program at Mills College.

The story of the soldier the Marine, the man and the women and the journeys within the military service in a time a war is our basis for the project. This is a collaborative project initiated by Drew Matott and Drew Cameron along with members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. Utilizing uniforms that were worn in combat in Iraq, the veterans cut, cook, beat and formed sheets of their uniforms at the Green Door Studio in Burlington, Vermont. The images were made with a pulp printing technique. Volume I was made from uniforms worn in Iraq by former Navy Corpsman Chanan Suarez-Diaz, former United States Marine Corps Infantryman Cloy Richards, and former United States Marine Corps Corporal Matt Howard. Other Volumes are in production.

It began with the Warrior Writers Project, a way for us, IVAW, to express ourselves outside of public discourse or organized protest. The method was derived and built from the inspiration of previous work; much in the same way that our current struggles resonate with the trials of previous generations. Facilitated workshops that create a space to be heard as well as to listen, a community that works to un-cloister our thoughts and continue with the reconciliation is the model.

In the unveiling of the first compilation of Warrior Writers “Move, Shoot and Communicate” at the Green Door Studio in April of 2007, we incorporated performance and visual arts. The creative need within those who have experienced such tragedy flows uncontained when we are able to embrace such reclamation of experience and make with it our own. Creating handmade paper editions of the book and facilitating papermaking with my fellow veterans eventually led, through the inspiration of Drew Matott, to utilizing our combat uniforms. The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reclaiming that association of subordination, of warfare and service into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration. Thus far eight different veterans have utilized or donated their uniforms. These all have been created into combat paper and twelve different veterans have been involved in pulping their uniforms in various workshops at the People’s Republic of Paper in Burlington, VT and Saint Lawrence University in Canton, NY.

Drew Cameron, IVAW, Green Door Studio

This page is maintained by Marshall Weber.