Southeast Missouri State University professor makes art from war

After a summer trip to the Southeast Asian nation, Chris Wubbena came to believe many Americans think of Vietnam in terms of a war, not a country.

Wubbena, assistant professor of art at Southeast Missouri State University, discovered this in his research on the Vietnam War to learn more about the conflict that haunted his father, a veteran who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970.

Wubbena visited the country with his father in 2009. After almost a year of designing and sculpting and painting pieces of art inspired by the trip, he has a completed exhibit. The show, "speaking while listening," will be in the Crisp Museum through Sept. 12.

It wasn't until his father, Ed, began going to counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder about three years ago that Wubbena realized how little he knew about the Vietnam War.

"I started thinking about all the things I missed with my father," Wubbena said. "And to every story, there are two sides. I didn't know the Vietnam side."

That's when the initial plan for Wubbena's exhibition was born. At first, Wubbena thought about meeting with a Vietnamese person around his age who had a father involved in the war as well. Ultimately, Wubbena asked his father to make the trip to Vietnam with him, a country he had not visited since the war.

Wubbena, who has had his art displayed in major cities around the country, received a grant for $5,353 from Southeast to fund his travels and subsequent artwork. He is now presenting the finished product from his trip. The art is an expression of his experience with the country that he refers to as "one experience, one installation."

"At first I thought it was pieces," Wubbena said. "But then I realized it's all different components, going for the same message."

Wubbena used bronze, steel, wood, found materials, multimedia, childhood memorabilia and other materials he to create the work.

His message piggybacks on the slogan "Fighting while Negotiating," which was used during the war. Wubbena said he wanted to put a twist on the phrase and emphasize not only expressing one side of the story but listening to others as well.

"You can get rid of war if you can rid of ignorance," Wubbena said.

Wubbena said the truth of this statement revealed itself more and more during the trip to Vietnam last year.

Wubbena said he was amazed by the generosity of the Vietnamese people. He was even more amazed by his father's mostly even-keeled emotions throughout the trip. Wubbena said there were a few times his father became emotional like at the Ho Chi Minh War Remnants Museum where he wondered if he personally affected anyone by his presence in the war.

Wubbena said he felt he needed to be "terribly honest" with his artwork after experiencing the trip with his father and further understanding the effects of PTSD on an entire family.

"I'm tired of war, tired of what it does to people," Wubbena said. "I wish it hadn't impacted my relationship with my father at an early age. Now, I'm just trying to do what I think is right -- visually, aesthetically and politically."

This goal is already evident to Peter Nguyen, museum director of the Crisp Museum on Southeast's River Campus.

Nguyen said the exhibit is good.

"It helps a lot of people who struggle with the same issues that Chris had to deal with," he said. "He's talking about bridging not only the cultural gap, but the age gap as well, from people who grew up experiencing the war to those who didn't."

Nguyen said he also sees the merit of the honesty and raw emotional level the exhibit touches on.

"We all know people who don't talk about issues," he said. "They just don't approach it, or it's a subject matter that's too personal to them."

People who knew about the project told Wubbena they thought his father would achieve some kind of closure by visiting Vietnam, but Ed Wubbena said there is no way the memories can be erased. However, his son does believe the exhibit can help ease the pain and help those involved come to terms with the war once they are exposed to the Vietnamese side of the story.

Nguyen hopes this theme will attract some veterans to the exhibit.

"It's not going to have anything that's graphic," he said. "Some things will hit close to home, though. It's not about bringing up old memories. It's about coming to terms with dealing with the issue of war. This whole idea of dialogue between people who were once adversaries."

The work is tied together by a shrine in the back of the exhibit, constructed by Wubbena with the help of seven art students at Southeast and covered with pictures, notes, army memorabilia and several other objects.

On a notebook left inside the shrine, Wubbena wrote that the "shrine is dedicated to the productive and peaceful potential of humanity when we join together to celebrate our cultural uniqueness and valuable diversity of perspectives." The objects found inside the shrine have been donated from around the world and Wubbena encourages visitors to bring their own offerings or leave written messages as a way to "promote peace and understanding as we attempt to learn more about each other."

Wubbena has made the exhibit and the shrine, which is a step off the ground, wheelchair accessible.

Wubbena said this exhibit goes further than any of his other work.

"This encompasses humanity and culture," he said.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. on weekends. The exhibit runs through Sept. 12. A closing reception will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sept. 3, with Wubbena giving a gallery talk at 6 p.m.