Moral Injuries of War
Moral Injuries of War is an immersive experience forging new ways to contemplate and heal from war through public testimony and intimate conversations.
Directed by: Jack Saul | Supported by: The International Trauma Studies Program
Role: Audio Producer, Sound Designer, Composer, Engineer
Showings:
The Unfinished Festival | National Museum of Art — Bucharest, Romania | 2019
Jack Saul Studio | Woodstock, NY | 2021
The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education | Philadelphia | 2021
National Sawdust | Brooklyn, NY | 2023
“Over the past 18 years, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties and cost trillions of dollars. In such insurgency wars, the line between combatant and noncombatant is often blurred and inevitably leads to countless atrocities. Civilians pay the greatest price in loss of property, injury, and death. It has become apparent that many soldiers, war correspondents, and other witnesses of these wars are troubled by their experiences and may suffer from moral injury — the sense that one’s fundamental understanding of right and wrong has been violated. Such problems of conscience lead to intense feelings of grief, shame, and guilt and may contribute to the high number of suicides among U.S. veterans — more than 20 each day. This installation gives voice to veterans and war correspondents who often carry this moral distress alone. But this distress not only affects witnesses of wars — it implicates us all as well. At, as a public, must content with the moral burdens of shame, guilt, and outrage that are usually carried by the individual alone. Out of this sharing, one can find connection, hope, and the possibility of building a cornerstone for collective healing and moral repair.” - Jack Saul
Sample Clips