The goal of Namoires is to ground people in the environment that the experience of our veterans took place in. All of the elements in the space have been inspired by and translated directly from veteran interviews. The text in the space are pull quotes from the recorded interviews in order to give viewers context directly from veterans. There is absolutely no interpretation of my own, as these stories belong to Vietnam veterans and they should be the ones to tell it.
I wanted to create an immersive space which has sensory elements for people to experience, namely things that you can see, touch, taste, smell and listen to. Our own individual lives are a multi-sensory experience, so I took that idea and ran with it for the Namoires space.
This approach, namely a multi-sensory and immersive design approach, is highly beneficial to civilians as they have little to no idea about the everyday lives our veterans. In order to gain a better understanding of those experiences, one needs to put themselves into their shoes. This space allows people to literally do that, in a compact and condensed manner.
Smells
I used this fragrance color wheel developed by Drom Fragrance Company (based in Germany), in order to color my boxes appropriately with regards to how the smell matches up with color to bring more of my color palette into the installation.
This is the start of the process, building my color boxes out of foam core.
Here's how the smells looked in the space.
I used this fragrance color wheel developed by Drom Fragrance Company (based in Germany), in order to color my boxes appropriately with regards to how the smell matches up with color to bring more of my color palette into the installation.
All of the smells were directly translated from their experiences from their time in service. I used Gasoline for a mechanic smell, Cannabis for the drug usage in Vietnam, a smoke smell for Napalm usage and a chemical called "Civet Essence" for the human waste/sanitation smell.
I used the Drop Fragrance wheel to color my boxes appropriate with regards to how the color looks like what category of smell it would smell like. The smells are confined to four boxes in the room, strung up on the wall and above them are text panels which provide context about the smell, translated in both English and Spanish.
Audio
I did most of my audio editing with Adobe Audition. Audition is the audio editing program within the Adobe Suite. First I tried working with Audacity which is an open source audio editing software, but I ultimately found the layout, wider selection of tools, and workability to be better in Audition so that's what I went with.
I pulled most of my sounds from youtube's free audio library, free sound.org and samples from archival footage.
I did most of my audio editing with Adobe Audition. Audition is the audio editing program within the Adobe Suite. First I tried working with Audacity which is an open source audio editing software, but I ultimately found the layout, wider selection of tools, and workability to be better in Audition so that's what I went with.
The audio portion of the installation space wasn't necessarily inspired by veteran stories, but by documentaries, fictional narratives, archival footage and previously compiled Vietnam military soundscapes.
I built the soundscape in Adobe Audition after experimenting with Audacity and realizing it wasn't what I was needing. I pulled sounds from youtube's audio library, free sound.org, and samples from archival footage and audio.
I also added Fortunate Son by Credence into the 5 minute video which played on the computer featuring veteran responses to interview questions.
Veteran Opening
After much setting up, I invited some veterans who have been working with me, to come check out the space and give me their thoughts.
They talked about what they liked, what they didn't like and what they thought needed to be included within the space.
Discussing my work with some viewers.
After much setting up, I invited some veterans who have been working with me, to come check out the space and give me their thoughts.
As I worked on this project, I also sought out curatorial direction from the veterans in order to be on the right track during construction. Yes, I'm pulling from their stories but an installation is a group effort, both the construction and the design process.
Before my openings, I invited some veterans into the space to look around and give me their thoughts and feedback. With their feedback I was able to put some last minute additions into the space which really brought the experience full circle; namely the addition of some flags and the incorporation of Vietnam era music.
Taste
A text panel which talks about c-rations and shows what they looked like. C-rations are what Vietnam troops ate during most of the conflict.
A good example of exactly what I served people during the show.
Pull-quote from an interview which guided my taste experience development.
A text panel which talks about c-rations and shows what they looked like. C-rations are what Vietnam troops ate during most of the conflict.
The food portion of the installation was inspired both by veteran experiences relayed to me in this project and also by a story my dad told me about an experience at a church breakfast. The guys in our church would take turns serving breakfast to the other guys as a form of social gathering.
It was Bob Sumpter's turn and he served the guys MRE's. He had a boiling pot of water on the stove and a pile of MRE's. He told the guys "Breakfast is on the table, make it yourselves. If this is good enough for our troops, it should be good enough for us." There's truth in that statement and I wanted the viewers of my space to experience what we currently serve our troops.
Touch & Visuals
Used this image as a visual reference.
Used this image as a visual reference.
Here they are.
Used this image as a visual reference.
The visuals for the room came from the stories of my veteran interviews, archival photos and videos,
documentary footage andfrom watching fictional narratives...all of which served as research for the project.
The visual and touch goal of the room was to create a multi-layered jungle environment which served to further accentuate the immersive qualities of the space. I used camo nets, two of which were bought and one donated, to cover the walls. I used copious amounts of vines and a different variety of plastic plants to create the effect. I also covered the floor in various thicknesses of artificial grass and tarps to give different textures to walk on. It was very successful in transporting you to a different place.
Public Opening
Modeling for a newspaper article photo, doing some last minute setup for him.
The final result for the dog tags.
Group of West Las Vegas students inside of the installation space.
Modeling for a newspaper article photo, doing some last minute setup for him.
I had a great turnout for the public viewing, in total I think around 40 people came to the show. It was great getting to talk to everyone about my work, show off the lives and experiences of these veterans and to see people interacting with the space in a positive way.
A lot of the comments I received were telling me that it was interesting to see these stories come alive in a multi-sensory way, that the approach I used was new and beneficial, and that they really enjoyed the work. A lot of conversations happened between our veterans and civilians, which was part of the goal; the transmission of veteran experiences. That happened through the public interacting with the space and through conversations that took place.
What Next? Well I hope to install this installation up at the Vietnam Memorial in Angel Fire NM for Memorial Day. After that, I'll be working with the Las Vegas Arts Council to install it there as well towards the later part of the year.
Paintings
I commissioned three paintings for the project from veteran artist Mr. Peter Garduno. He served from '71 to '75, but wasn't involved in Vietnam. Here he is at our initial meeting.
Here are some of his initial ideas he brought with him to the meeting, but we had a talk about what I wanted for my space and he worked off of that. He also worked with veterans involved in my project for creative direction in order to best showcase their stories.
Release form for the paintings.
I commissioned three paintings for the project from veteran artist Mr. Peter Garduno. He served from '71 to '75, but wasn't involved in Vietnam. Here he is at our initial meeting.
I commissioned veteran artist Mr. Peter Garduno to paint the visuals for my installation. He's painted various murals around Las Vegas and for other established
institutions like our local VA office and library.
I initially thought of commissioning a student artist, but the route that I took ultimately lended credibility and authenticity to not only the work being presented but to the veteran's stories themselves.
These paintings came about through his work, creative direction from the veterans I've interviewed and myself.
Each painting featured here is currently displayed with the wrong rotation. For the installation, they are rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise, synced together and played simultaneously.