'Always Lost: A Meditation on War' exhibit honored at Nevada Legislature

“Always Lost: A Meditation on War” has returned home to Carson City and was given full honors Wednesday at the Nevada Legislature.

Western Nevada College’s acclaimed creative writing/photographic exhibition about the costs of war will be on display in the Nevada Legislative Building’s second-floor atrium weekdays through May 3.

"There are no words to express the gratitude I feel for the opportunity afforded by our Nevada Legislature to share Always Lost with our fellow Nevadans," said WNC Professor Emeritus and project co-creator Marilee Swirczek. "The atrium in The Legislative Building has been transformed into a sacred space to contemplate the personal and collective costs of war, a place to honor those who gave their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, those who are still in harm's way, and those who made it home."

“Always Lost, A Meditation on War” began as a creative writing class assignment at WNC in 2009, based upon an idea by Sociology Professor Don Carlson, who observed that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were perhaps the most impersonal that the United States has ever fought.

This developed into a long-term effort by English Professor Marilee Swirczek and her students to personalize the costs of war through words and images.

The exhibition offers a sacred space to contemplate those personal and collective losses. At the heart of the exhibition is the Wall of the Dead, which depicts the faces and names of the more than 6,500 service men and women who have died in those wars since September 11, 2001.

The images, combined with writings by the students and other Northern Nevadans, and Pulitzer Prize-winning combat photos used with permission from the Dallas Morning News, comprise the exhibit. It also includes a study of SPC Noah Pierce, an Iraq war veteran who took his own life after serving two combat tours in Iraq.
Interviews with student veterans represent the thousands of service members who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Project Manager Amy Roby said she is pleased that the exhibition is on display in Carson City.

“It is fitting that this project, which originated in Carson City and has been traveling across our nation since fall 2010, will be shared with Nevadans in such a special place,” she said. “It is an opportunity for all of us to recognize the sacrifices made by our military service members in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.”

A second, traveling exhibit is currently on display at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, the 15th venue on the tour.

The exhibit at at the Legislature Building is newly replicated, thanks to a gift from Carson Nugget/Community First. The newly created exhibition will make its debut at the Legislature.

The small core group that is still active in the project includes:

Marilee Swirczek and Amy Roby, who is the project manager but was a student in the original 2009 class.

Doug Deacy, who produced the video, took the photos of the WNC student vets that are in the exhibition, and was a student in the original class.

Kevin Burns, USMC, retired, who spear headed the Wall of the Dead; he made the decision not to arrange the faces of the fallen in any chronological or alphabetical order; he says that war is chaos, not a parade ground where everyone marches in perfect order; his idea was to engage the viewer; to find one you must look at them all.

Don Carlson, WNC Professor Emeritus, Sociology, who made the observation in 2008 that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were perhaps the most impersonal wars the U.S. has ever fought — and that idea was the impetus for the semester-long project in my advanced creative writing class that resulted in the student show that became the nationally touring exhibition.

Sandy Hannah, a researcher who stays current on casualties.

Sandy Garrison, a record keeper who maintains an index of all casualties (over 6,500 currently) and performs audits to make sure our information is accurate

Thomas Ramirez, graphic designer who takes the photos of the deceased service members and creates the template which becomes the inividual wall panel (each panel contains 192 faces and names of the dead); there are 34 panels on the wall right now and and the 35th is close to being added.

Michael Nelson of Grafx8 Media Group in Minden who prints the individual wall panels on canvas and puts on the clear protective finish.

Barry Jobe of Lone Tree Frame and Gallery in Minden, who custom matted and framed the combat photos and custom builds the wooden frames for the memorial wall panels, then stretches onto those frames the canvases that Michael Nelson prints.

The Dallas Morning News, which has given permission for the Pulitzer Prize winning collection of Iraq War combat photos to be part of the exhibition their photojournalists David Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer were embedded with Marine units in Iraq in 2003; they won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography.

Swirczek notes many others who have contributed, especially members of the Carson City and Carson Valley communities who volunteered to audit the Wall of the Dead. Among them are Catherine Boedenauer of Carson City who sewed fleece shipping covers for all the combat and other photos in both exhibitions. And, most recently, the Legislative staff who welcomed Always Lost and installed it with such respect and dignity, said Swirczek.

Also noted are the Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities whose initial grants in 2010 enabled the team to prepare the original exhibit for traveling. Since then, Always Lost is maintained entirely through donations — to keep the Wall of the Dead current and to maintain and manage the touring exhibition.

Nevada Office of Veterans Affairs executive director Caleb S. Cage, also an Iraq war veteran, encouraged citizens to view the exhibit, adding that it "allows the broader public to see the costs of these wars."

Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell, a retired Navy Captain and Vietnam veteran, made the following remarks at Wednesday's ceremony:

35,311,559 — that is the number of Americans who served in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Global War on Terror. Of those who served, 623,214 lost their lives, including the 6,518 men and women whose faces you see in this Exhibit — Always Lost: A Meditation on War.

Of those who served, 1,174,371 were physically wounded in combat, including 41,936 since September 11, 2001.

Indeed, the number of wounded is higher yet when one considers the mental wounds suffered by our veterans —where every day 22 of them take their own lives as a result of their combat experiences.

And we must never forget the 40,915 service men and women who are unaccounted for as missing in action or prisoners of war — including 30,314 in World War II, 4,759 in Korea and 2,489 in Vietnam. Service men and women for whom the home fires still burn.

Every one of those men and women was out there putting his or her life on the line so that we can enjoy the benefits of a free society.

It is particularly fitting that this Exhibit is displayed in the hallowed halls of this legislative building — a hallmark of democracy where our duly elected leaders can exercise the rights enabled by a free and open society that those on the Wall of the Dead gave their lives to ensure.

And we must always remember — that for each face on the Wall of the Dead there are family members, friends, and community members whose lives have been permanently altered by the death of their loved ones.

They are a daily reminder of the sacrifices of those whom we send in harm’s way.

To my fellow veterans here today — and I know there are many — please accept the gratitude of a grateful community.

To the students and faculty at Western Nevada College, thank you for creating this stunning and thought-providing gift to our nation. Your community is terribly proud of your work.

Let each of us take a moment to pause before this Exhibit and reflect on the sacrifices of those who gave their life so we may live in peace.

Photo by Lisa J. Tolda
Photo information: Two view a wall of photographs Wednesday April 17, 2013 at the exhibition tour of 'ALWAYS LOST: A Meditation on War.' It is on display on the second floor of the Legislative Building in Carson City.