27 year old Iraq war veteran Drew Cameron literally recycled his past by shredding his military fatigues into tiny strips and making them into paper, on which he then wrote or made images in many different formats. Some of those stencilled images echo British graffiti artist Banksy, whose signature use of militaristic imagery and the apparatus of the state could never be far from an ex-serviceman’s mind.  

Drew served in a US army artillery unit during the 2003 invasion and was haunted by what he had witnessed. After he was discharged he learned paper making techniques from a local artist when he settled in Burlington, Vermont. He then began to use his new skills as a way of processing his experiences of war.

Drew had discovered a way to find catharsis and to express his opposition to the ongoing conflict in Iraq.

And now his scheme is taking off across the US as his Combat Papers Project reaches out to other former soldiers, from many different conflicts, troubled by the memories of dead friends and the psychological damage that goes with active duty.

This collaboration between artists and veterans of military service literally sees the uniforms that were worn in battle deconstructed, pulped and turned into paper. The veterans-turned-artists, like Drew, then use the paper to say or do whatever they feel the need to.

Unravelling the military experience

“This process helps us to further unveil the complexities within the military service, the military culture and the wartime experience,” says Drew, who has recently returned from Savannah, Georgia after a 1500 kilometre road trip with five other veterans-turned-artist through Appalachian country, where they held workshops with a variety of different ex-servicemen and women, teaching them the paper processing techniques and talking through their experiences.

“For each individual it varies. For some they participate in the process for a sense of healing, of reconciliation for the things they have done or been a part of. Some use it as a means to express a message, a story, to use this medium as a way to expose that message in a very public way. The workshop setting is an opportunity for a group of veterans who may not have met but who have a commonality of experience to reveal this shared expereince and to create something together.”

This shared experience of war, the shredding the uniforms and then mixing those uniforms together to make paper amplifies their voices, says Drew.

Act of healing

“It’s a liberation, a catharsis, an act of healing, an ongoing work of moving on from the military experience but being able to embrace it, to own it, to take responsibility for it and to live with it.”

The Combat Papers Project has proved to be popular not just with veterans but the wider public as well because of the ongoing discussion about the reasons for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Drew says that the project is the necessary result of these questions.

“We feel we have no choice. We have to respond as artists, as people, as citizens of the countries whose governments are waging wars. It’s something that speaks about the time in which we live and people, whether they have seen active service or not, relate to the project because they are curious to know what has happened under the auspices of democracy.”

To find out more go to combatpaper.org

Listen to the interview with Drew Cameron: