When Janey Comes Marching Home: Portraits of Women Veterans
September 12-December 14, 2008
Read more about the exhibition here.
Listen to podcasts at the Virginia Quarterly Review.
View personal deployment images from women featured in the exhibition here.
Gallery Reception Friday, September 12, 6 – 8 pm
Gallery Talk Sunday, September 14, 2 – 3 p.m. Exhibition collaborators Laura Browder and Sascha Pflaeging discuss their project.
Film Series This series is co-sponsored by the Richmond Moving Image Co-op, with thanks also to Nell Chenault, Director of Media Resources, Cabell Library, VCU.
Saturday, September 27, 7 p.m. Lioness (2008) presents the untold story of the first group of women soldiers in U.S. history to be sent into direct ground combat, in violation of official policy. Told through intimate accounts, journal excerpts, archive footage, as well as interviews with military commanders, the film follows five women who served together for a year in Iraq. With captivating detail, this probing documentary reveals the unexpected course of events that began with using U.S. women soldiers to defuse tensions with local civilians, but resulted in the women’s fighting in some of the bloodiest counter-insurgency battles of the war. Together the women’s candid narratives and scenes from their lives back home form a portrait of the emotional and psychological effects of war from a female point of view. Lioness is the first film to bridge the gap between perception and reality of the role women in the military are playing in Iraq, capturing an historical turning point for American society. Directors: Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers. Introduced by co-director Meg McLagan. 82 minutes. Free admission.
Friday, October 3, 9 p.m. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROSIE THE RIVETER (DIR: Connie Field, U.S.,1980, 60 mins.) Director Field mixes talking-head interviews with archival news and Hollywood footage in this engaging documentary of four women, African-American and white, who worked the U.S. shipyards and the air factories during World War II. Recounting their personal experiences with male co-workers and commenting on the social expectations of women at the time of and after the war, the subjects emerge as more than symbolic “Rosie the Riveters.” Introduction: Michael Jones, Adjunct Professor, Film Studies, VCU and Randolph-Macon College. Co-director, Richmond Moving Image Co-op. Admission $5 (as part of VisArts:latenight; includes refreshments).
Friday, November 7, 9 p.m. IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE (DIR: Frank Christopher, PROD: Alex Drehsler, U.S., 1982, 75 mins.) The filmmakers entered El Salvador clandestinely and spent six weeks with guerilla forces comprised of men and women from age 12 to 61. Whether planning an offensive or hauling supplies, the women are seated as equals. All the subjects receive adequate screen time, so the audience manages to see the fighters as individuals in this intimate and engrossing view of guerilla life in the war-torn Salvadoran countryside. Introduction: Dr. R.McKenna Brown, Professor and Director, School of World Studies, VCU.
Friday, December 5, 9 p.m. MY DAUGHTER THE TERRORIST (DIR: Beate Arnestad, PROD: Morten Daae, Norway, 2007, 60 mins.) Dharsika and Puhalchudar are best friends — sharing secrets, joking, braiding their hair — yet both are Black Tigers, Tamil nationalists in training for these last seven years as suicide bombers. Told from the unique viewpoint of a mother who may lose her daughter forever. TO SEE IF I’M SMILING (DIR: Tamar Yarom, Israel, 2007, 59 mins.) This extraordinary film profiles six Israeli women who served in the West Bank. As they tell their stories against the backdrop of footage of their tours of duty, the audience comes face-to-face with the truth of war — it destroys the innocence in everything it touches. Introduction to both films: Dr. Jennifer A. Fronc, Assistant Professor, U.S. Social and Women’s History, Department of History, VCU.
Panel Discussion: The Changing Role of Women in War Sunday, September 28, 2 – 4 p.m.; reception 4 – 5 p.m. With project director Laura Browder; Lisa Harmon, an Iraq War veteran and a psychologist for the Veterans’ Administration in Vermont; New York-based filmmaker Meg McLagan; and Leisa Meyer, professor of history at the College of William & Mary and author of Creating GI Jane: Sexuality and Power in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. Moderated by Steven Danish, professor of psychology and director, VCU Life Skills Center.
Art & Coffee September 23, 9:30 a.m. “Every Picture Tells a Story: Reading Photographs” – Photographer & snapshot collector Alyssa Salomon shares examples from the medium’s 170 years and talks about photography’s formats, styles and uses.
November 11, 9:30 a.m. “Sandbox Sailor: Reflections on an Unexpected Tour in Baghdad” – Veterans’ Day talk by Visarts Board Chair Ed Cook Unexpectedly mobilized by the Navy in spring 2007, Cook found himself not only in Baghdad building a nation but also working for the Army in all its bureaucratic glory. In order to stay connected to friends and family as well as maintain a measure of sanity, he sent weekly emails home that both shed light as well as make light of the efforts to rebuild Iraq.
Classes
Question Authority This 2 ½-hour crash course in investigative interview techniques (as opposed to job interviews) will cover everything from arranging meetings with experts, to crafting questions, getting people to open up and “painting” your subjects on the page. The only tools necessary are paper, pen and an enthusiasm to write. All levels welcome. Instructor: Nicole Anderson Ellis Saturday, September 13, 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Writing War “It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature,” said Henry James. Both kinds of writing, history and literature, make real the consequences of human beings’ periodic efforts to kill each other wholesale. History records the battles, the generals, the soldiers, supplies and weapons that actually make war. It tallies casualties and maps campaigns. Literature, meanwhile, works in war’s shadow, observing and presenting those lost or ruined while war went on. This course will include a series of wartime readings, both historic and literary, set in various periods and places. We will discuss the relation between history and literature, and their connection through war, as well as how, and how well, the particular pieces record and present war and the people who wage it. Instructor: Deirdra McAfee 6 Wednesdays, September 17 – October 22, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Media Images of Women: 1940-Present This lecture class will study and discuss the ways in which the media in the western world represent women. Each class meeting will outline a particular decade. Topics to be covered within each class include, but are not limited to politics, wartime – both home front and combat, and popular culture, entertainment, through the lens of art, text and fashion. Short writing prompts will be used to lead the discussions. Instructor: Nia Burks 8 Mondays, October 6 – November 24, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Master Class Saturday, November 1, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. “Creating an Oral History Project” : Project director Laura Browder discusses how to conceive, design and implement an oral history project, focusing on interview techniques and related challenges. The fee for this class is $100 ($85 for VACR members), and those interested should email or call 353-0094, x 211 to register.
Visarts: Engage is a newly printed Young Person’s Guide to the Gallery. These interpretive materials, designed for family and school-group use, suggest age-appropriate activities based on Virginia’s Standards of Learning. Call 353-0094 x 229 to inquire about group tours with guided activities or contact Jessica Bauserman, Education Coordinator.
