Moving images from the Vietnam War

Viet Nam Voices
An exhibition of art, photos and videos
Queensland Museum, South Bank, Brisbane
Developed and toured by the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
Until September 29

REVIEW BY JIM McILROY

The Viet Nam Voices exhibition is deeply moving, especially for those who experienced the Vietnam War itself or the struggle against it. It is a timely reminder of the horrors of war, just when the US and Australian governments are preparing once again to launch a bloody, unprovoked assault on another Third World country.

From private and public collections, the exhibition presents more than 1000 personal photos, paintings, drawings, prints sculptures, costumes, home movies, propaganda posters and personal testimonies from those who were personally touched by the Vietnam War.

A notable feature as you enter the exhibition halls are a series of graphically striking anti-war and anti-conscription posters of the 1960s, many of which have been loaned by the Democratic Socialist Party and its national secretary John Percy, a veteran of the anti-war movement in Sydney.

There are also some telling artworks, many by Australian war veterans and their families and Vietnamese Australians. One particularly shocking work is a sculpture by the controversial artist Ivan Durrant about the effects of the Agent Orange defoliant which was sprayed across Vietnam by US forces.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is a collection of hundreds of photos taken by Vietnam War veterans and anti-war protesters, showing scenes from the war and the movement against it.

In the background, there are the sounds of videos depicting war scenes and the stories of veterans and opponents, which provide an added atmosphere of reality to the entire exhibition.

It's a must-see for young and old who want to recapture the grim reality of the war which changed the face of world politics in the 20th century. And ir is a warning for the imperialist warmongers that the oppressed peoples of the Third World can fight back and win, and that war can have drastic, unintended consequences at home.

From Green Left Weekly, September 4, 2002.

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From GLW issue 507