Internationally acclaimed documentary photographer Nina Berman discusses her exhibit Evidence and Fantasy: Militarism in American Life, and poet David Smith-Ferri and veterans, including members of Albany Veterans for Peace, read poems exploring their personal experiences with the realities of war. In conversation with Kathy Helly, Berman will also discuss work from her series Purple Hearts, Marine Wedding and Homeland.

An exhibition opening reception, sponsored by Honest Weight Food Co-op, will precede the presentation.

Co-sponsored by: Albany Veterans for Peace; Iraqi Children’s Art Exchange; Women Against War; Schenectady Unitarians Social Action group; Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace; Chatham Peace Initiative.

More About Nina Berman:

Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, widely published and exhibited, with a primary interest in the American political and social landscape.  

Her work has been recognized with awards in art and journalism from the New York Foundation of the Arts, the Open Society Institute Documentary Fund and the World Press Photo Foundation. She is internationally known for her photographs of wounded American military, and her Marine Wedding portrait showing a disfigured marine and his bride on their wedding day, is considered an iconic image from the Iraq war.

She is the author two monographs Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq, Trolley, 2004 and Homeland, Trolley, 2008. Her work has been the subject of solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, London and Berlin.

She is a contributing photographer for Mother Jones and has worked for top editorial clients including TIME, Newsweek, The Sunday Times Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Colors, German Geo, National Geographic, Fortune, and Marie Claire. She frequently lectures on photography, conducts workshops and is on the faculty of the International Center of Photography (ICP) in her hometown of New York City.  

More About The Veteran Poets:                                             

Thomas Brinson served in 11 Corps Vietnam in ‘67-68 to include surviving the Tet Offensive. He has been writing poetry since 1966 and performing his work at open mikes since 1995 throughout the New York City area and Long Island, Arizona and the Hudson Valley. He has been published in several “little magazines” both in print as well as on the web and this year had his first chapbook Love And War published by Post Traumatic Press in Woodstock. Retired with a 100% VA disability for PTSD, he lives and writes in Woodstock, NY.

Dayl Wise was drafted into the US Army in 1969 and served in Viet Nam and Cambodia in 1970. He lives in The Bronx and Woodstock, New York with his wife, the poet Alison Koffler. He is the author of Poems and Other Stuff (Post Traumatic Press) and most recently published a book, Post Traumatic Press 2007, an anthology of work by three generations of veterans.

Dan Wilcox was drafted in 1969 and served his time at Fort Knox, KY. He is the host of the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center in Albany, N.Y. and is a member of the poetry performance group “3 Guys from Albany”. As a photographer, he claims to have the world’s largest collection of photos of unknown poets. He has been a featured reader at all the important poetry venues in the Capital District & throughout the Hudson Valley and is an active member of Veterans for Peace.

We are committed to lowering the barriers to access for events at The Sanctuary for Independent Media. For people who are hard of hearing or deaf, blind or low-vision, or whose physical limitations can interfere with a satisfying experience, let us know two weeks in advance so we can make appropriate arrangements.