DEPICTING THE INVISIBLE

post - trau· mat· ic stress dis· or· der noun.
A condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological
shock, typically involving constant vivid recall of the experience, with dulled responses to the outside world.

Susan J Barron’s latest work is the portrait series DEPICTING THE INVISIBLE: American Veterans Suffering From PTSD.

Ms. Barron’s beautiful and cinematic mixed media depictions are achieved through photographic imagery, paint and text. Multiple images and angles give each portrait a sense of movement and time. Many small images create the whole. This technique serves as a visual metaphor for lives coming together – and lives coming apart.

Incorporated into these photographic portraits are the veteran’s own stories in their own words. In these works, they give voice to their experience, their reality, their world. Ms. Barron’s ultimate mission is not one of simplistic deification, but one of truthful illumination. This body of work is intended not only give voice to these warriors’ harrowing, shocking, and often hopeful stories, but to create a dialogue and community around the difficult issue of PTSD. The mission is to depict the invisible scars of war. The mission is to show these brave individuals they are not alone. The mission is to end their isolation and depict them as the hero’s they are.

At the gallery opening of the show, the veterans will be in attendance and will be given a forum to speak.

A coffee table book of the portrait series will be published and the proceeds from the sales will be donated to support veterans’ causes. It is Ms. Barron’s great hope that the veterans who generously participated in this project will find the telling of their stories cathartic, and feel they are making a difference by giving back.