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Military Veterans Show Their View of the World in New NYU Exhibit

By DNAinfo Staff on April 29, 2011 7:13am

By Elizabeth Ladzinski

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GREENWICH VILLAGE — Timothy Thompson, an Air Force veteran who served during Desert Storm, originally signed up for an NYU photography workshop to learn how to use his point-and-shoot camera better.

But the 43-year-old soon found himself so taken with the practice of photography that his work became part of a new art exhibition on display at the university, titled "Seeing Here Now."

"My original goal was just to learn how to use my point and shoot better… well, that all changed, and now I don't even have the point and shoot anymore," said Thompson, who is one of ten students from NYU's free class "Introduction to Photography & Video: a Creative Outlet for Veterans" whose work is on display.

Thompson said the course has given him much more than photo skills: offering him a way to cope with his PTSD from having served as a special operations combat control team member ("the Air Force's version of a Navy Seal," Thompson explained),  as well as a group of like-minded friends.

"We've gotten together on weekends and gone out shooting, we help each other with editing," Thompson said, of his classmates. "I've gotten so much more than I ever expected out of the course."

The workshop came about after photographer Erica Leone realized there was a common interest amongst military alumni she encountered. They all wanted to learn how to take photographs, she said.

"I had been working with returned soldiers, taking portraits of them for my personal projects, and conversations we were having quickly shifted from me taking their photos to them showing their interest in photography," Leone said.

Leone met dozens of former soldiers who brought home hard drives full of images from their deployment, because for many, it was their first time abroad.

"Just like how we take photos when we travel, they took photographs from their deployment," Leone said.

NYU already offered a creative writing workshop for veterans, and realizing an opportunity to offer a visual counterpart, Leone began teaching the free course last October, and will continue to do so through May.

The veterans in the photography workshop worked closely with the veterans in the creative writing workshop. The students would submit the photos they had taken to serve as writing prompts. Then, the resulting prose and poetry served as a starting point for taking photographs, creating a "call and response" between the two groups of veterans.

Leone said that one of her goals with the course was to create a dialogue not only between the veterans, but between the veterans and civilians. The exhibit was a natural outgrowth of that, she said.

The photographs in the exhibit vary wildly, from abstract to personal narrative. But they all reflect each military veteran's vision after coming home.

"They are looking at 'home' with new eyes," Leone said.

Leone added that, throughout the course, she's watched the students become closer, sharing their experiences from deployment and learning from eachother.

"From discussing art and how you make art, emotions did come out of that, and many of them expressed to me that it was quite a healing experience," Leone said.

Leone hopes to offer the workshop again next year.

As for Thompson, he donated his old point-and-shoot camera to the school, in hopes another veteran might begin learning how to shoot with it next year. Now, he uses a Canon 60D — a pro-level camera with removable lenses.

"It's something I never imagined myself doing, and now that I'm doing it I can't image myself not."

"Seeing Here Now," is showing at NYU's Kimmel Center at 60 Washington Square South through May 20, 2011. The participating artists in the exhibit include Sara Banda, Mary Briatico, Michael Day, James Dreiling, Alex Gould, Will McElwaine, Juana Luster, AJ Pichardo, Kristina Shevory and Timothy Thompson. The exhibit was curated by Erica Leone.