Artist Book Spotlight
Jim Lommasson
Acclaimed Portland photographer, Jim Lommasson, is one of our featured artists in this month’s show, Book Power! I Wouldn’t Wish War on My Worst Enemy is a book you won’t soon forget. Lommasson has incorporated a collection of 176 photographs taken by American soldiers after their return from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. An integral part of the book includes stirring quotations by soldiers and their families. The book if full of compelling images and a heartfelt essay by the mother of a twice-deployed Marine who is quoted as saying “Mom, I wouldn’t wish war on my worst enemy.”
Lommasson has not included any of his own photographs or writing in this piece, stating, “I want this book to feel like it is its own thing, with no outside authorship. I would like an unsuspecting viewer to wonder where the book came from, almost as if it fell out of the sky.” To add impact, Lommasson utilizes scanned copies of the last Iraqi newspaper published while Saddam Hussein was in power.
We’re sure you’ll find this book thought provoking, enlightening, heart wrenching—and powerful.
Special Note:
All proceeds* from the sale of this book will go to Returning Veterans Project, an organization that provides free counseling and other health services for returning veterans and their families; and Coffee Strong Coffee House, an organization that provides free counseling and other health services for returning veterans and their families. *(Yes, the entire purchase price will be donated!)