There are many, many museums, memorials, statues and exhibits throughout the world associated with war. Often, they tell the story of how a war or battle was fought or honor those who fought and died in combat.

In comparison, it can be said it is probably rare to find an exhibit that focuses on war, peace and justice and uses different genres of art to tell stories.

But that’s just what the War Amongst the People/From Swords to Plowshares exhibit presented by the J. Sherwood McGinnis Jr. War, Peace and Justice Project does in cooperation with the Cumberland County Historical Society does.

Appearing on Wednesday’s Smart Talk, Tara Leigh Tappert (Ph.D), the curator of the exhibit explained why the exhibit is unique, "The element that I think that is most unique is a balance of two sides. There is literally the show is divided in half. And so war among the people is one half of the show. And it's literally on one side of the room. And I'm Swords to Plowshares is the other half, and it's on the other side of the room. And the war side I call the history of war making in America. And the other side I call the history of the costs of war making in America."

Jennifer Pacanowski served as a combat medic in Iraq starting in 2004. She came home in 2006 suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and was battling substance use. She says her life was changed by attending a writing and papermaking retreat in Massachusetts that included cutting up her uniform and to make art. Pacanowski  used it as an outlet from her suffering,"In the beginning, it was about how angry I was when I came home and what I faced. And being a woman combat veteran and not having support and people trying to lock me up in a psych ward instead of helping me learn skills to help myself to breathe, to create space, to create, you know, go to acupuncture, all these different holistic things, not just throw meds at me or try to lock me up in any sense of the world, including incarceration. There's so many veterans incarcerated."

The War Amongst the People/From Swords to Plowshares exhibit runs through November 10th in Carlisle.

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