Documentary and art exhibition highlights the sacrifices of four local military veterans
Meyer Stump Productions is presenting a multimedia event on Wednesday at Copper Mountain College’s Bell Center, including a documentary screening and art exhibition, focusing on four Morongo Basin veterans and active-duty military as its subjects.
The documentary “Sheepdogs,” directed by Brian Knappmiller, tells the story of these four Morongo Basin veteran’s injury and healing through tales of pain, triumph, and resilience. The film was shot entirely in the Morongo Basin and includes music from local artists, including Z1077’s own Pat Kearns, the film’s music director.
The art exhibition presents Ted Meyer’s monoprints and photographs of the subjects’ physical scars, and their health incident stories. This exhibit will be the first time the subjects will view Meyer’s close-up photographic renditions of their bodies.
“I have an interest in art and medicine. 23 years ago, I started a project called ‘Scarred for Life,’ where I started making monoprints of people’s scars. Over time I did subsets of that, and one of them was veteran scars. This year I got a grant to continue working on the scar project and to make this film.”
While Meyer’s father served in the military, his attraction to pursue such a project went even deeper.
“My main reason for starting with the veterans ages ago during the Iraq war was that I found it uncomfortable that we didn’t see the sacrifices these guys and gals were making. Having grown up during the Vietnam war, we used to see the coffins come back. We used to get a count every night of the casualties, the injuries, and the wounds; all of which we didn’t get with Operation Iraqi Freedom. I wanted to make sure these people were counted. I didn’t want them hidden.”
Meyer and his partner Anna Stump were awarded the grant from Creative Corps and the California Arts Council. Stump said, “It’s really a portrait of 29 Palms and the desert. We tried as much as possible to imbue the murals, the base, the landscape. It’s a very hyper-local film.”
Meyer, Stump, the military members, and filmmaker will be present for a short question and answer session after the film screening.
The event is free and open to the public from 5-7 at CMC’s Bell Center.
