War is Hell is a photo comic assembled from photos taken by an American sargeant in Iraq, with his running commentary along the way. It was and continues to be exhibited and published all over the world, with permanent collections in Kosovo, Paris, New York, Wisconsin and Oregon.
Opening of War is Hell Photo Roman
An excerpt from Victoria Blake from the Oregonian describes the scene:
On a long flight from Paris to Portland in late 2004, filmmaker and writer Penny Allen sat next to a U.S. Army sergeant on his way home for a two-week leave. The sergeant, whose identity Allen has kept secret, talked nonstop about the war, about his wife and about a friend who had just died in the fighting. Toward the end of the trip, he pulled out his computer and played a video he made during the seven months he served in Iraq. Allen couldn’t watch the video then. The images were brutal and gory, showing bodies cut in two, burned corpses, brain matter and blood. Instead of looking, she listened.
If you’d like to purchase a copy, please email mail [at] pennyallen.info.
To purchase World War 3 Illustrated, with WAR IS HELL inside, issue 36 entitled Neo-Con, contact:Top Shelf Comix.
The full list of exhibitions and publications is below:
Penny Allen at War is Hell Exhibit
January, 2011, EXIT ART GALLERY, New York
Autumn, 2010, UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA, British Columbia, Can.
Spring, 2010, THE SANCTUARY, INDY MEDIA CENTER, New York
The Contemporary Art Library, Pristina, Kosovo
November 2008, Galerie ORENDA, Paris
September 2008, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN COLLECTIONS, Milwaukie, Wisconsin, USA
March 2005, MARK WOOLLEY GALLERY, Portland, Oregon, USA
October 2005, EXIT ART GALLERY, New York
July 2005, MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE, USA
August 2005, WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED, New York
October 2005, LIBERATION, Paris
October 2005, BLICK, Zurich
October 2005, PROCESO, Mexico City
December 2005, DE GROENE AMSTERDAMMER, Amsterdam
February 2006, LA RINASCITA DELLA SINISTRA, Rome
June 2006, MARK WOOLLEY GALLERY at the Wonder Ballroom, Portland, Oregon, USA
October 2006, WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED
April 2007, PARMENTIER, Amsterdam