The Aftermath of War, Seen Through Photographers’ Eyes

Ms. McCusker is hardly alone. The impetus to use an art form to address the problems in the Middle East prompted Natalie Marsh, director of the Gund Gallery at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, to take the "Aftermath" show, as did Steven High, executive director of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, a division of Florida State University.

The three museums are connected to schools of higher education, and executives and curators saw the exhibit as an opportunity to involve the students as well as the public. The show arrived this month at the Ringling and will be open through Jan. 21.

"Normally we would not take a show that is done by a neighboring institution," Mr. High said. "We thought it was powerful and we wanted it. It reaches out to the community. There are issues of migration. People are migrating to Tampa. It seemed like something we should say."

Photo Rania Matar Mohammad 7, Assaad 12, Beirut, 2014 Credit Rania Matar

Christopher Jones, Ringling's photography curator, added: "For decades, curators have been thinking about ways to engage their audience. In the past few years politics are so upended, and we are all trying to make sense of the world we live in. Curators are too. Our aim is to garner different perspectives."

The photographers in the exhibit represent a variety of backgrounds, but Ms. McCusker set certain limitations, and she is careful to say that the exhibit has no larger political agenda. The photographs show virtually no guns. "It is about the aftermath," she said.

Among the photographers whose work is included is Lynsey Addario, who frequently contributes to The New York Times. Some of her images capture displaced Syrian refugees: some waiting, desperate to collect their daily bread at a refugee camp in Jordan. From Eman Mohammed, who describes herself as the first female photojournalist in Gaza, are images of families mourning the deaths of men killed in Israeli airstrikes. Rania Matar's suite of pictures of Lebanon from a 2006 series "What Remains" show the devastation of both cities and homes.

Ms. McCusker also used two series on American soldiers. She explained that "The Forever War," a 2008 book about Iraq and Afghanistan written by Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker, then a New York Times reporter, had strongly influenced her views. In the introduction of the show's catalog, Mr. Filkins wrote that the strain on American servicemen and servicewomen who fought in those wars was often severe.

Photo Jennifer Karady, Former Lance Corporal West Chase, U.S. Marine Corps, Combat Service Support Company 113, I Marine Expeditionary Force, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, with fiancee, Emily Peden; Ann Arbor, MI, May 2014 Credit Jennifer Karady

To capture their personal aftermath, Ms. McCusker incorporated the work of Jennifer Karady, who together with veterans attempted to recreate the emotional impressions of their returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. One portrait shows a former sergeant covering his ears when a truck approaches on an American street. The caption explains that it reminded him of the terrible sound of mortar fire. The exhibition also showcases the photography of Suzanne Opton: images of the heads of soldiers, lying sideways — an unusual pose for men and women who are generally upright in portraits.

Two abstract images by the Israeli artist Michal Rovner depict people moving through a landscape, seemingly an effort to show the timelessness of the human condition.

But exhibits tied to current events can create conflict, and the selection of photographers provoked some questions in Gainesville, where "some of the Jewish community wanted to see more from Jewish photographers," Ms. McCusker said. "We got a string of emails saying there should be more photographs from Israeli journalists."

Explaining her selection of photographers to a woman who identified herself as Jewish, Ms. McCusker wrote that "the stream of refugees coming out of those countries is where the appalling crisis of 'aftermath' resides."

Photo Suzanne Opton, Soldier: L. Jefferson, Length of Service Undisclosed Credit Suzanne Opton

"It also resides with many of our soldiers," she added. "This will impact us all for decades to come."

In the letter, she was careful to note that there was a video of a talk between Ms. Mohammed, possibly the most outspoken photographer in the labels she wrote to her photographs, and Mati Milstein, an Israeli photojournalist, in the exhibit's touch table. Ms. McCusker included a lengthy description of her year living and working in Israel. She added: "I have seen many images of Israeli suffering. We publish them in our press."

That response was sufficient for Joanne Bloch, a donor to the exhibit, who said,"I felt that Carol had done her utmost to be inclusive and seek out photographers who wou ld appropriately represent the theme: destruction of people's environment."

In Gambier, Ohio, which Ms. Marsh described as "the land of Trump," the Gund took the show early this year to connect the Middle East to the community. "It is a complex issue," she said, "and we try to address them so the students will become critical thinkers fully engaged in these debates and their world"

Comments in the Gund guest book were overwhelmingly supportive. "Despite how unnerving, the photos are something people absolutely must see," one visitor wrote.

But at least one visitor criticized the show, writing, "This exhibit is lying leftist America-hating B.S."

Generally, the reaction to "Aftermath" has been positive. Although the Harn does not track attendance at discrete exhibits, 48,271 people visited the museum in the five months both "Aftermath" and "Portraits of Frida Kahlo" were up. (Eighteen classes from the University of Florida based discussions on "Aftermath.") By comparison, a Monet and American Impressionism show that ran for a shorter time brought in slightly fewer visitors.

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