Combat Paper Project
November 13, 2008, 6:30pm

Dieu Donné is pleased to host a presentation of Combat Paper Project in conjunction with Rutgers University’s Brodsky Center for Innovative Print and Paper. Join combat papermakers Drew Cameron, Eli Wright, Jon Turner and master papermaker Anne McKeown from Rutgers University in a presentation of their projects and a conversation and reading in our gallery.

Founded at Green Door Studio in Burlington, Vermont by artists Drew Matton and Drew Cameron, the Combat Paper Project was begun with the organization Iraq Veterans Against the War as a way to educate the public about the costs of war. The Combat Paper Project utilizes hand papermaking as a means of expression through which veterans of the Iraq war reconcile their personal experiences as well as challenge the traditional narrative surrounding service, honor and the military culture. Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into pulp and formed into sheets of paper. Veterans use this transformative process of papermaking to reclaim their uniform as art and begin to embrace their experiences as a soldier in war. Through ongoing participation in the papermaking process, combat papermakers are attempting to progress from creating works specific to their military experiences to expressing a broader vision on militarism and society. In collaborative projects, civilians were invited to cut the uniforms off of the veterans in a performative action that shared responsibility for the soldiers’ re-entry into society through a symbolic shedding of the vestiges of war. Through this collaboration, a much-needed conversation is generated regarding our responsibilities to the returned veteran and an understanding of the dehumanizing effects of warfare.

Anne McKeown is an artist and Master Papermaker at Rutgers University’s Brodksy Center for Innovative Print and Paper. She received her M.F.A. from Yale University. She has taught both painting and printmaking and has exhibited extensively throughout the metropolitan area, participating in both solo and group exhibitions. She has received numerous prestigious awards and commissions.

For more information please contact Tara Ruth, Deputy Director, 212-226-0573.

Above: Mike Blake, Vortex, 2007. Pulp painting on combat paper with American flags.