NEW YORK.-Iraq veterans who have written about their wartime experiences will take part in The Art of War, a public symposium presented by the Humanities and Sciences Department at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York City. They will be joined by veterans of the Vietnam War and World War II in reading from Post Traumatic Press, a recently-published chapbook of poems. The keynote speaker will be artist and SVA alumnus Steve Mumford. Mumford is best known for Baghdad Journal, a series of watercolor paintings based on field sketches he completed while embedded with American troops in Iraq . The event will take place on Thursday, November 1, 7pm at 209 East 23 Street. Admission is free.

The Art of War will be moderated by SVA faculty member and Vietnam veteran Camillo Bica. Dr. Bica has written at length about the moral dimensions of war and the social responsibility of artists. He teaches a course at SVA entitled The Mythology of War, which addresses the philosophical and psychological foundations of institutionalized violence.

During four trips to Iraq in 2003 and 2004, Steve Mumford accompanied US troops in the field, creating an eyewitness account of the war in words and images. Originally published on the Internet in 16 installments during the same period, Mumford’s watercolors and ink drawings are reproduced along with his written commentary in Baghdad Journal: An Artist in Occupied Iraq (Drawn and Quarterly, September 2005).

The work of Mumford and five other artists with direct experience of the war in Iraq—Army Major Peter Buotte, Marine Warrant Officer Michael Fay, Army Sergeant Aaron Hughes, Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Roa and photographer Lucian Read—will be featured in “Testimony to War: Art from the Battlegrounds of Iraq,” an exhibition on view at SVA from February 4 - March 8, 2008.

School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City is an established leader and innovator in the education of artists. From its inception in 1947, the faculty has been comprised of professionals working in the arts and art-related fields. SVA provides an environment that nurtures creativity, inventiveness and experimentation, enabling students to develop a strong sense of identity and a clear direction of purpose.