ROBERT
FARAGHER
…findings alter beliefs: the vietnam
experience
January
6, 2002 - March 31, 2002
The
Reading Public Museum will exhibit …findings
alter beliefs: the vietnam experience
by Robert Faragher. This exhibit is a "visual
journal" that includes photographs,
writings, drawings, artifacts, and more.
These computer-generated images retrace
a personal Vietnam War experience through
the eyes of the artist Robert Faragher,
a Vietnam veteran. There will be an opportunity
to meet the artist Saturday, January 19,
2002 from 6pm to 8pm. The exhibit will
run through March 31, 2002 and is included
with regular Museum admission of $4 adults,
$2 children 4 to 17. Members and children
under 4 are admitted free. Museum hours
are Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday 11am to 5pm,
Wednesday 11am to 8pm and Sunday 12pm to
5pm.
Robert
Faragher started his tour of duty as a language-liaison
between the U.S. Military and native villagers
seventeen miles south of Danang. He was
afforded the unique opportunity to learn
the Vietnamese language and get to know
the people of this village in Vietnam. However,
"orders being what orders are, my unit
along with the entire regiment was reassigned
north to Quang Tri Province, where I spent
the remainder of my tour under combat conditions:
field operations, patrols, etc." said
Faragher. It was the paradox of these "two
worlds" that formed the basis for his
exhibition. "I began formulating the
idea for '…findings' in the mid 1980s.
But it was not until the late 1990s that
technology afforded me the medium to produce
these images. One could say the project
came out of a need to somehow understand
and reconcile the ways in which the Vietnam
War had changed my life. The work, as it
exists today, is merely the physical evidence
of a journey that began in 1967 and continues.
It is simultaneously, therapy, scavenger
hunt, angst and creative expression. My
story, while unique to me, is but a version
of one shared by many," said Faragher.
Robert
Faragher currently resides in Reading with
his wife and son. He continues to work on
"…findings" while operating
his own corporate communications and graphic
design firm. He studied photography at the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
This exhibition was made possible by the
generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Maurer,
III and family and CommonWealth Professional
Group.
Robert
Metzger, Ph.D
Director, CEO, Chief Curator Reading
Public Museum |
