With a mixed-media sculpture entitled ‘Shattered Solder’ in the foreground,  Alan Tracy checks out the work of fellow artists at the  multi-media art exhibition, ‘Experiencing the War in Iraq,’ at the Machines with Magnets Gallery in Pawtucket Thursday.  Butch Adams/The Times 

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — With the war in Iraq is entering its sixth year, it seems to have slipped under the personal radar of many Americans.

With that in mind, a touring, multimedia art exhibition called “Experiencing the War in Iraq” attempts to reconnect those who have secluded themselves from the war’s reality, and to promote awareness, understanding and healing.
Opening yesterday and running through Saturday, March 29, the show will run simultaneously at the Arts Exchange in the Pawtucket Armory at 172 Exchange St. and at the Machines with Magnets gallery at 400 Main St. The hours at the Pawtucket Armory are Thursday to Sunday, 5 to 8 p.m., and at Machines with Magnets, Thursday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. 
In addition, several related events are planned at the AS220 gallery and the Cable Car Cinema in Providence.
Noticing a rising trend of Iraq War veterans posting their art on the Internet, several local artists, forming a group called ReconnectUS.org, decided to present a global, multimedia exhibition on the subject.
According to a press release from ReconnectUS.org, the international flavor of the exhibit expresses the visceral range of emotions that the war evokes from artists, soldiers, veterans and others.
Audio, photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and the written word are among the media represented. Submitted works come from around the world, including the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Iraq, as well as close to home.
Through the language of art, the exhibit aims to put a human face on the complex conflict in Iraq, as well as to bring together diverse expressions of individual experience, the press release states.
“The work was selected purely on artists merit from more than 600 entries and includes an array of perspectives that reach beyond politics,” said Jeff Carpenter, a coordinator with ReconnectUS.org. “The show’s images, sounds and words are offering something that will touch everyone.”
Carpenter said the impetus for the exhibit was a speech  last summer in Providence given by a veteran who had just come back from Iraq.
During a question and answer session following the speech, Carpenter noted that the only people in the audience asking questions were age 50 or older. “I though, ‘How do we get to the younger generation?’ “ said Carpenter. “I thought, maybe if there was something with art and music.”
Some of the artists scheduled to appear include: Wafaa Bilal, an Iraqi installation artists who was tortured under Saddam Hussein’s rule and who now teaches at the Art Institute of Chicago; Dahr Jamail, author of Beyond the Green Zone; Benton-C Bainbridge, a video artist recognized for real-time performances at Lincoln Center; the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art; and Kenny Carnes, a U.S. veteran who performs a solo oral history in dramatic verse.
In addition, AS220, 115 Empire St., Providence, will host a pertinent panel discussion with several participating artists and curators, on Sunday, Mar. 9 from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Participants will include Krista Caballero, Alan Tracy and Dan Wood. Panelists will be artists Jeff Carpenter and Raphael Lyon. The event will start with a brief video projection of the artists’ work, leading to a discussion with each artist before expanding to a wide-ranging discussion about the issues in the exhibition.
“Experiencing the War in Iraq” is being organized by ReconnectUS.org, an ad hoc group of artists and volunteers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The four southern New England artists directing the project are Leif Goldberg, Raphael Lyon, Jeff Carpenter and Erin Rosenthal, all of whom have exhibited nationally and internationally.
Once the exhibition closes in Rhode Island, it will travel to Fall River in April and eventually to other regional venues.
For more information about the exhibit and related events, visit http://reconnectUS.org/.