Art has long served as a form of expression for releasing emotions and making points on life or thought in general. All of the following art exhibits commemorate a soldier or soldiers in the pieces of artwork they contain. Each art exhibit looks to bring emotion or feeling to some part of the process of war, often to raise awareness. Most importantly, each art exhibit here strikes emotion in the heart of the viewer, and raises a sympathy for the soldier and the plight of soldiers in general. However, each following art exhibit is not exactly what most people would think of as an art exhibit. Instead, they each have the qualities of art; of trying to bring an emotion and an understanding to the world of being a soldier.

1. Soldier

This series of photographs is of nine soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are portraits done of the nine men between tours, which have been set up as an art exhibit on billboards around the country. This project was supported by a Vancouver art group, but this particular art exhibit, shown at soldiersface.com, has been just to memorialize each soldier. In addition, a more extensive art exhibit by the same artist is currently on display at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA with a wider variety of portraits, each of an individual soldier, along with a complementary art exhibit of drawings and watercolors done by Michael Fay, a Marine veteran.

2. War Veteran’s Vehicle

This was an art exhibit in London that examines the effects of war on British soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This art exhibit projects single interviews each with a single soldier who speak about things such as PTSD, suicide, and the difficulty of being a war veteran. These videos were projected from vehicles onto public buildings, and were supposed to emphasize the importance of getting help for a soldier who may feel isolated upon his or her return.

3. Fallen Heroes Project

This art exhibit is less of an exhibit and more of a project to provide comfort to the families of each individual soldier whose family signed up. It does an individualized portrait of the fallen soldier and sends it to his or her families, all free or charge. They keep a complete gallery online, however, or all the portraits, which stand as a sort of art exhibit to these fallen soldiers.

4. In Conflict/Black Watch

Neither of these is specifically intended as an art exhibit, though both of them provide an artistic feel to the life of a soldier. These are both plays that look at war from the eyes of a soldier, and seek to inform the viewer about the difficulty and struggles of a soldier at war.