PORTRAIT

ONLINE EXHIBITION PRESENTATION

PORTRAIT Home
Leslie Elsasser - Introduction
Christian Cortes

Beginning
Crimi Arrieta - Relative of US Army Veteran
Patricia Colbert - US Army
Gail Cross - US Air Force
Dr. Charlie Ferrer - US Army
Janine Hargrett - US Army
Valerie Larson - US Air Force
Kevin Lipton - US Army
Dolores Matteo - US Army
Karidad Ramis-Hartman - US Army
Roger St. Julian - US Army
Monika Sutton - Spouse of US Army Veteran
Viana L.M. Tavares-Fischer - US Army

Advanced
Manfredo Bobadilla - US Army
Agustin Collazo Jr. - US Marine Corps / US Navy
Amanda Dodd - US Army
Evan Fountain - US Air Force
Derek Hopkins - US Air Force
Mikko Maki - US Marine Corps
Alicia Morales - US Army
Chris Smith - Spouse of US Army Veteran
Kimberlee Nicole Smith - US Army
RaeAnne Swanson - US Air Force

 

JANINE HARGRETT - US Army

And So On and So On 

I recall a Wella Balsam shampoo commercial from my childhood and how the images multiplied with each repeat of the slogan “And so on and so on”. Later I was intrigued by how images repeat in a reflection photograph. 

My mother was a Naval officer in the Nurse Corps during the Vietnam Era. She received her degree from what was then The Tuskegee Institute, where a number of her patients were victims of The Tuskegee Experiment 626. Coincidentally, my mother was also last on staff in the hospital ward where I recovered from a preventable hysterectomy. This “mirrors” the reality and irony of life in America and illustrates the concept of history repeating itself. The disparity in healthcare treatment for Black veterans goes on! 

This ideal brings up several questions. Metaphorically, will the past ever be just that? Or will we continue to devolve because of the illusion of a “past”? How honest can we be if there continues to be a concerted effort to rewrite, remove or “whitewash” history? Who we have been colors who we can be, and we must paint that picture with the truth as the medium. 

My mother and I recently had lunch last month at the hospital she helped open in 1972 and where I received that avoidable hysterectomy. It’s the same hospital where I’ve been working since 2018. And so on and so on. Janine hargrett us army

JANINE HARGRETT
US ARMY

 

 

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For more information:
Email Leslie Elsasser at lelsasse@usf.edu

Breaking Barriers is a program by USF Contemporary Art Museum in collaboration with the USF School of Art & Art History, is supported by the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, USF Office of Veterans Success, Community Arts Impact Grant of the Hillsborough Arts Council, Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, Love IV Lawrence, USFCAM ACE (Art for Community Engagement) Fund Patrons, and the Florida Department of State, Florida Arts & Culture.