CityView Magazine

36 | May/June 2018 Brownlee's work shows the challenges that soldiers and veterans can face in balancing their service with other parts of their lives. "I was putting these photos on beautiful paper but it felt like there was this piece missing," she said. e paper made of old uniforms "brought it together," she said. In 2016, she launched the Breaking Rag Project, a mobile studio offering workshops and demonstrations in making paper and art from worn uniforms and other materials. She also creates art works by assembling disparate items into a unified story or experience. One such work, called Debris ArtWorks, was exhibited earlier this year at Fayetteville Technical Community College. e installation combined photography, video and found objects from the debris and events from the complete destruction of her home by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, as well as the art party that she and her husband held to bid farewell to their first home. e act of turning that devastating event into art "gave us control back over it," Brownlee said. Brownlee said she sees art as a way to create space for conversations to take place – especially difficult conversations. at can be hard for anyone but particularly for military service members and veterans who've absorbed an ethos of keeping any personal problems to themselves even as the general public is too oen oblivious to their experiences. Brownlee said there's oen a sense of isolating separation between the groups. For example, she was surprised when people in the Northwest wanted her to tell them about her military experiences. "I didn't know that people away from the military cared to hear about it," she said. But her art may help breach some of those barriers, providing a means for service members and veterans to express themselves in ways that civilians can relate to. "e stories are the only thing that get people past these preconceived ideas of what we have and what the world is like," she said. CONTACT US TODAY TO LEARN MORE 910.323.2409 WWW.FIVESTAR-ENTERTAINMENT.COM Professional DJ Services Audio-Visual Rentals Photo Booths Karaoke Lighting Monograms Event Design Video Dance Parties Dance Floor Rentals Planning & Coordination WE WILL COORDINATE ALL THE DETAILS! POOL PARTIES REUNIONS The Special Event Production Company

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