“The photos reminded me of a number of experiences of this period of my life that was very educational but very traumatic,” said Tom Vennemeyer as he and fellow Vietnam veteran Jeff Noble saw the first black-framed photographs emerged from their packing crates.
“They certainly bring back memories … which you never really forgot. They’re permanently imprinted on your mind,” added the former Marine sergeant field radio operator.
Vennemeyer and Noble were among the first to see the compelling black and white images of the Vietnam War, captured through the lens of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams. Adams photographed 13 wars in his career and covered the Vietnam War for The Associated Press.
Eddie Adams: Vietnam, a collection of 50 rarely-seen photographs, opens on Memorial Day, May 25, from 12 to 3 p.m. at Dublin Arts Council, 7125 Riverside Dr., Dublin, and remains on view through Sept. 11. The exhibition coincides with the 50th Vietnam War Commemorative Year. A video feedback booth and playback station have been installed to allow visitors to respond to the exhibition, sharing stories of this important time in U.S. history.
Adam’s 1969 Pulitzer prize-winning photo of Nguyen Ngoc Loan, then national police chief of South Vietnam firing a bullet at the head of a Vietcong prisoner on a Saigon street will be in the exhibition, although the photographer lamented the recognition.
Adams lost his battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 2004. According to his obituary in The Guardian newspaper, “The pictures that Adams was most proud of were a series he shot of 48 Vietnamese refugees who managed to sail to Thailand in a 30-ft. boat, only to be towed back to the open seas by Thai marines. The photographs, and their accompanying reports, helped to persuade the U.S. President Jimmy Carter to allow nearly 200,000 boat people into America.
“Of the series, Adams said, ‘I would have rather won the Pulitzer for something like that. It did some good and nobody got hurt.'”
Adams’ photograph, Boat of No Smiles, can also be seen in the exhibition.
Alyssa Adams, deputy photo editor of TV Guide Magazine and co-founder of The Eddie Adams Workshop, and Hal Buell, Associated Press photo director during the Vietnam War, will be in the gallery to visit with guests on May 25 from 1 to 3 p.m. and on May 26 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Eddie Adams: Vietnam is on view free of charge at Dublin Art Council, 7125 Riverside Dr., in Dublin from May 25 – Sept. 11, 2015. For details, visit www.dublinarts.org or call 614.889.7444.
GCAC Presents is a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council – supporting art and advancing culture in Columbus – in partnership with the Columbus Arts Marketing Association, a professional development and networking association of arts marketers. Each column will be written by a different local arts organization to give you an insiders look at the arts in Columbus.