Pao Her, 注意力, Of Us and Art: 這 100 Videos Project, 插曲 21

Pao Her’s exhibition of new photographs, 注意力, focuses on the importance of military service to Hmong-American identity. In the 1960s, the CIA enlisted Hmong and Laotian soldiers to fight a secret war alongside the conflict in Vietnam, soldiers the United States still does not recognize as U.S. veterans despite their sacrifices on behalf of the U.S.. The men that Her has photographed, in the tradition of classical paintings of generals, are veterans of that war—excluded from subsidized health services, refused the right to be buried in national cemeteries, and disqualified from wearing U.S.–sanctioned military uniforms and medals.
More info: new.artsmia.org/exhibition/pao-her-and-shana-kaplow/