The “American Indian Wars” and the ongoing “Global War on Terror” are two of the longest military conflicts in US history. These long wars are intertwined through similar military strategies that often profile, target, and devastate Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities while recruiting and enlisting people from these same groups. This tension is visible in the creative responses to these long wars by artists.

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Hall was built as a site to honor the sacrifice of Union Civil War veterans and their families. There is no better place to consider the threads that connect artists impacted by the US long wars as they utilize varied approaches to document distinct yet overlapping community histories, challenge colonialism, recycle military technologies, and struggle for freedom. Together, their work proposes alternative ways of understanding and surviving the long wars.

Survivingthelongwars.online

Veteran-art-movement.net

Image Caption Credits:

(listed in order of appearance in slideshow)

Mahwish Chishty (b. 1980) [Pakistani-born American]. MQ-9/5, 2013. Gouache and tea stain on paper. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Mahwish Chishty.

Dorothy I. Burge (b. 1954) [US Military family member]. “We Stand on the Shoulders of Our Ancestors,” 2018. Cotton fabric and batting, buttons, beads, embroidered patch, printing on fabric, photo-transfer on fabric. Machine-quilted by Judy Wolff. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Eric Perez.

Melissa Dowd (Ojibwe, b. 1971) [US Army veteran]. Bullet Dress, 2016. Army uniform with 365 bullet casings. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Eric Perez.

Miridith Campbell (Kowa. B. 1966) [US Marine Corps, Army, and Navy veteran]. Adobe Walls Battle Dress, 2022. Cotton canvas dress with blue edging. Digitally printed ledger art on fabric depicting the Adobe Walls Battle. Two sets of fully beaded belt bags. Two belts, one fully beaded on latigo with a German silver whip, and one fully brass-tacked on harness leather with tacked whip. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Eric Perez.

Miridith Campbell (Kowa. B. 1966) [US Marine Corps, Army, and Navy veteran]. Marine Corps Dress—Southern Style, 2022. Tanned and smoked buckskin hide; antique, vintage and contemporary beads; red broadcloth English wool; vintage Marine Corps service buttons; hawk bells, horse hair. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Eric Perez.