... In February of 2003, I was a soldier in the U.S. Army ...

and deployed to Kuwait in preparation for the invasion of Iraq. After six weeks of waiting in the desert we finally received our orders to assault and the war began. As we went into the breech lanes that cut through the minefields to make our way into Iraq, the brutal reality of what was about to happen sunk in. At that moment I vowed that if I made it home alive I would rededicate my life to making art. While I was deployed, all I could think of was being home. What I did not know then was that Iraq would come home with me.

When people find out I was in the war they want to know what it was like. I never know how to respond, so I simply say, "It was hot." How can I sum up the horrible things I saw in a simple sentence? How can I say I am no longer the same person, and not for the better? In her book, Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag writes: "Transformation is the purpose of art." At first this seems obvious, but this statement seized me and I could see the potential for metamorphoses on many levels. The 'Iraq Series' is my answer to what everyone wants to know. These prints and drawings transcend the filter of the media to give an honest perspective of the war that no amount of news coverage can give. Working on this series is a cathartic process that I hope will temper the constant memories and nightmares. By reconstructing my combat experience in visual terms it becomes possible to express something that I cannot articulate in words.

The theme of war in printmaking has a long tradition. Artists like Jacques Callot, Francisco Goya and Otto Dix used printmaking to show the brutality of war and humanity at its worst. Referencing great printmakers of the past, I am using their work as template for examining war in a modern context. My work explores the fear, boredom, hunger, exhaustion, discomfort, loneliness, sheer terror, and the ever-present looming unknown that is the daily reality for soldiers in combat.

- James O'Neill