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Depicting The Invisible: Portraits of Veterans Suffering From PTSD shares the experiences of Veterans with more than a dozen six-foot by six-foot works on canvas. Each one combines a photograph, paint, collage, and text to tell the story. Previously on display in New York, Florida, Washington D.C., and Tennessee, the exhibition opens Saturday April 3 at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus. Artist Susan J. Barron spent two years collecting the stories of Veterans, but she almost walked away from the project when tragedy struck.
Credit Susan J. Barron
"It was a Veteran named Damon Zeigler and right before the show was to open in New York, I got a call from his mother that he committed suicide," Barron said. "That was a very dark time for me. The other Veterans reached out to me and said - you can't walk away, this is why you are doing this project because this happens 22 times every day. This is just the first time you knew somebody that this happened to. We know hundreds of people. This is why we gave you our stories, because these stories have to be told. That really redirected me into this project 110 percent."