Some of the best paper is made from cloth rags. Some of the best art comes out of pain. Here's a project that takes both of those facts and uses them to help veterans makes sense of, and make beauty out of what they went through as soldiers. The Combat Paper Project, started by Green Door Studio in Burlington, Vermont, teaches veterans to make paper from the scraps of their uniforms, some of which have been ceremonially cut from their bodies. And in the mix, as one veteran says, is "sand, blood, tears, depleted uranium, Haiti, Canada, Hungary, Germany, Ireland, Kuwait, Iraq." The paper and the objects, prints, and books made from it, are all astonishing and powerful, as well as truly transformative and cathartic. Have a look at the video-in-progress, "Iraq Paper Scissors" by Sara Nesson, chronicling the project. Keep the Kleenex handy.
H/T to Alison Bechdel.
