SRU’s Martha Gault Art Gallery to feature photos from Afghanistan War

A pair of young girls with sullen looks sit in a wheelbarrow in southern Afghanistan. The photo is featured in Ben Brody’s “Endgame: Afghanistan,” Oct. 10-Nov. 11 at the Martha Gault Art Gallery.

Oct. 6, 2016

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - As a month-long prelude to Veterans Day, Nov. 11, Slippery Rock University's Martha Gault Art Gallery will present "Endgame: Afghanistan," a series of photographs from photojournalist Benjamin Brody. The series, which will be on display Oct. 10-Nov. 11, features "landscapes and environmental portraits that convey the loneliness and absurdity (Brody sees) in the Afghanistan war."

   BRODY

Brody began shooting the gallery in 2010 while on assignment for The Ground Truth Project, a non-profit media organization dedicated to critical global issues and social justice matters. Since the release of "Endgame: Afghanistan," the photo series has been a finalist for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, a LensCulture Exposure Award and was named to Photolucida's Critical Mass Top 50 for 2014.

A former enlisted Army combat photographer, Brody earned a degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2012. He is currently working toward an MFA at the Hartford (Connecticut) Art School. Since 2003 he has been "an observer of evolving military culture and doctrine, and how it reflects the changing American character and political identity." His work in Iraq from 2005 to 2008 was published in "Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq," by Michael Kamber.

Theresa Antonellis, art instructor and gallery director of the Martha Gault Art Gallery, hopes that the display will not only recognize the service men and women overseas, but also those on the home front, including SRU's Army ROTC and the SRU Student Veterans of America.

"My mission is to serve as many student interests as possible, and to create gallery content that is important and relevant to as many student groups as possible," said Antonellis. "I hope these military groups will feel welcome in the art gallery this month and feel honored by the exhibition.

"Equally as important to me is raising awareness in all students of these issues and of the commitments made by our student veterans. Art is a great equalizer and my underlying intention is always one of awareness and inclusion."

The Martha Gault Art Gallery, located in Maltby Center, is open noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

More of Brody's work can be found at www.photobrody.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Maizee Zaccone | 724.738.2091 | mxz1016@sru.edu