Aftermath:
Portraits and Reflections of Veterans in Recovery
2020 - 2024

The  wars fought in Iraq and Afghanistan cost the lives of 8,000 U.S. military service members. Of those who survived, more than 30,000 have subsequently taken their own lives, acts resulting from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), or Military Sexual Trauma (MST). They were our sons, our daughters, our neighbors, our friends.

This horrific number doesn’t account for lives endangered by alcohol abuse, drug addiction, or domestic violence. Thankfully, many service members with PTSD and other hidden wounds seek help from the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Home Base Veterans Program in Charlestown, MA. Because the two-week clinical course is so intense, the program has been broken up by Respite Weekend at Harvard Polo Farm in Hamilton MA (where I live), and at other horse farms in the Boston area.

For four years, I volunteered as the “unofficial official” Harvard Polo Respite Weekend photographer, documenting the various activities the vets experienced at the Farm. I’m primarily a fine-art photographer, so attempting a long-form social documentary project was somewhat new for me, but by their openness, and their willingness to participate, the vets helped me through. Through their patient presence, the horses helped us all.

From July 2020 to January 2024, I was privileged to work with more than 200 current and former service members at the Farm - from all branches of service and some of the Special Forces units within them. Approximately 50 of them allowed me to take their portraits. The vets and I were able to create intimate images which reflect the person they are, who they want to be, their hopes for the future and the experiences they’re trying so hard to process.

The photographs here are just a few of what we produced, and which have been viewed by audiences around the country. I hope this exhibit will provide some small insight into many veterans' ongoing battles against the hidden and implacable enemy of PTSD  - and help sensitize a civilian public to the often deep, personal, and indelible costs of military service.

Currently on view at:
The DeMenil Gallery
Dillon Arts Center
Groton School, Groton MA
January 7, 2026 - April 27, 2026