When you think of war, images of fatigue-clad soldiers and tanks rolling through the desert almost immediately come to mind. But what about the innocent victims of war, the displaced families or civilian deaths?
Women Against War, a Delmar-based group of Capital District women united in peace and by the common thread that war is not the answer, wanted to remind people of the invisible faces of war. So, with the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan as a backbone, the timing was perfect to bring “Windows and Mirrors” to the area.
“I think the arts are always a very important way to get across a message,” said Barbara Spring of Albany.
Spring was the driving force behind taking “Windows and Mirrors” local. The traveling art exhibit originally started in Philadelphia but has expanded to cities across the country. It’s a collection of artwork that captures the civilian side of the 10-year war.
“I was impressed with the heartfelt messages that I felt in them and wanted to share that with the community,” said Spring.
The images she saw won’t soon leave her mind. There’s the mother cradling a dying child and a woman fleeing the bombs. The anguish on Afghan faces is piercing, said Spring, and ever-present atrocities they face day in and day out are plain to see.
“It’s very frightening and it’s hard on everybody,” said Spring.
Spring has seen the impact of war up close. In 2006, she traveled to Iran.
“I think it’s ever more entrenched and I really think we have made as many enemies as we have done well,” said Spring.
As the U.S. prepares to record a full decade of military presence in the Middle East, Spring has her own views on what has and has not been accomplished during that time.
“I’d like to think that maybe there was a refocus on development issues and I’m sure there’s been some, but I think it’s very hard for a war machine to get involved with [that],” said Spring. “I just think we need to get out of there. …The trillion dollars we’ve spent on the war in contrast to our budget problems and unemployment is, to my thinking, so sad and ridiculous.”
The traveling art exhibit will make its first stop at Wilson Memorial Chapel at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs until Thursday, Oct. 20. Then it will move on to Sage College and the College of Saint Rose in Albany before completing its Capital District run at Union College in Schenectady.
“We wanted to make sure if we brought this exhibit, as many people as possible and as broad range of the community would be able to have access,” said Maureen Aumand of Colonie, a member of WAW and part of the group’s Afghan Project Committee.
The exhibit is a collection of 25 part pieces. Aumand said the artwork is “as unique as the individual artists who created them” and is sure to touch viewers in one way or another.
“Some of them are abstract and conceptual and others are more literal,” said Aumand. “It’s a real range of styles; very vibrant. They’re moving and very thought provoking.”
One piece she found most compelling depicts a group of young boys flying a kite against a landscape that showcases Afghanistan’s true beauty.
“Flying kites is a very serious pastime. …It’s a very hopeful sense of children reaching to infinity and at the same time the kites could be a drone overhead threatening,” said Aumand. “I think taken together or in groups they will really cause a lot of reflection on what is this experience.”
In the early years of the war, Aumand was intent on learning everything she could about what the war meant and why it occurred. Her research brought her to a frank conclusion: the war was a mistake.
“I became consumed with how do we prevent this from happening,” said Aumand.
For years, she grappled with that issue silently until she read a letter to the editor from a member of WAW.
“It was the most wonderful realization that there were people in this area working [on this],” said Aumand. “This is a beautifully emerging network of women who were all feeling the same passionate desire to change the dynamic.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 12, Aumand and other WAW members gathered on the steps of the Legislative Office Building to stand up against the war’s 10th anniversary. She said that moment of solidarity was the essence of WAW.
“They felt incredibly empowered that they could look at each other and realize in the other person’s heart is the same angst and determination to stand,” said Aumand.
“Windows and Mirrors” will be at Albany International Gallery at Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady until Wednesday, Oct. 19. It will be in Opalka Gallery at Sage College in Albany on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22 and 23, and at Schacht Fine Arts Center at Sage College in Troy from Monday, Oct. 24 to Friday, Oct. 28. From Saturday, Oct. 29 until Nov. 11 it will be at Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary at the College of Saint Rose in Albany and from Monday, Oct. 31 to Nov. 10 it will be at the Social Sciences Building Lounge at Union College in Schenectady. For more information about WAW visit www.womenagainstwar.org.
