Artist Statement- Paul W Pearce
Over one hundred years ago soldiers fought in bloody trenches.
Today there are soldiers in trenches in Ukraine waging war to defend their country.
We enter this world as innocents. We ultimately lose our naivety to become righteous, or evil, or a little of each. What is humanity and what if you lose it? Lessons we learn, games we play define us, inform our actions and our morality. As a forward observer In combat, a compass guided my way to direct lethal fire on the enemy. Where was my moral compass?
Moral injury, they say I have it. I look back at an innocent boy who made war with toy soldiers. Where was my moral compass? What happened when I played war?
Now old toys, from an era that suffered from war, wounded and suffering toys. I embed my childhood face and wonder where I would be if I really knew the consequences of these playtime battles.
What compass guides a person in authority to beat someone with a club or kneel on a neck until there is no more life?
Are we still stuck in trenches?
How We Rebuild
This penetrating and transformative photography exhibition draws from twelve years of work created by grant winners and finalists from The Aftermath Project, a non-profit organization committed to telling the other half of war stories, after the conflicts have ended—what it takes for individuals to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, and to recover the heartbeat of humanity.
