The Odyssey Workshops: Picturing Life After Combat
- Community Submission
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Rochester, NY- Flower City Arts Center will host a free, 12-week intensive photography course for post-9/11 combat veterans starting Sept. 5, 2025.
The struggles that U.S. combat veterans face as they reintegrate into society are largely misunderstood and rarely communicated by those immersed in the experience.
The Odyssey Workshops offer combat veterans and survivors of military sexual trauma (MST) a new tool to navigate the road home from service. Founded in Buffalo in 2019, The Odyssey Project offers free photo workshops for vets in Buffalo, New York City, and now at Flower City Arts Center in Rochester.
Through photography and writing, veterans are invited to explore the return home from their perspective. Participants will work together to make pictures that illustrate life in and out of uniform. This is a unique opportunity for veterans to share their stories among a group of peers, and create artwork that reflects the past and present.
Previous participants celebrate the impact photography has on processing the journey home from war. In the words of Dan Mitchell:
“I’m an Army medic combat veteran, and this opportunity to address thoughts, feelings, and emotions relating to my military service through photography is healing in unexpected ways. The most impactful realization for me so far in this program is the requirement to slow down and really see what’s there. This may sound simple enough, but taking the time to translate difficult memories and emotional complexes into an intentional photographic image is a surprisingly valuable experience.”
The project is led by photographers Brendan Bannon and Christopher Cilento. Bannon’s work has appeared in the New York Times, and has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and at UN headquarters. Chris Cilento, a retired U.S. Army veteran with multiple combat deployments, has exhibited throughout Rochester and holds an MFA from the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY.
"For several years now, Flower City Arts Center has been impressed by Brendan Bannon's award-winning humanitarian photography work and the life-changing nature of The Odyssey Project for combat veterans and MST Survivors. We met a few years ago and started collaboratively developing this program locally, exhibiting the striking work of past Odyssey participants in our galleries in the Fall of 2024. We are honored to evolve this partnership, allowing the first Rochester cohort to take shape. Being a therapist trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Treatment, I know the transformational power of photography, writing, and artistic expression toward healing long-time traumatic wounds. We look forward to impacting lives in this way now and into the future."
Spaces are limited. To apply, please contact bbannon1@gmail.com with ‘The Odyssey Workshops’ in the subject line or complete the application in the link above.
Available assets include photographs from previous participants and Rochester-based veterans. Interviews with the project’s founder and instructor Brendan Bannon and co-teacher and combat veteran Christopher Cilento are available with 24 hours notice.
The Odyssey Project is presented with generous support from Foundation 214, Excellus BlueCross & BlueShield, Sharon Turner in honor of Adelbert Lloyd Turner and Canon USA. Odyssey would not be possible without support from many individual donors giving for very personal reasons.
QUICK DETAILS:
WHAT: A free, 12-week intensive photography course for post-9/11 combat veterans begins on Sept. 5, 2025
WHERE: Flower City Arts Center, 713 Monroe Avenue
WHO: Combat veterans and MST Survivors in the Rochester region are invited to apply for the remaining spaces in the workshop.
Established in 1970, Flower City Arts Center is a community-based not-for-profit organization that educates, encourages, and inspires all people to create and enjoy the visual arts. It is the only community visual arts center conveniently located within the City of Rochester. In 1974, the Arts Center was incorporated as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit educational institution. In addition to the staff and board, the center’s community includes up to 20 artists-in-residence and many instructors, studio artists, volunteers, and interns. flowercityarts.org
Foundation 214 seeks to advance and enhance the wellbeing of those that came before, those that embody the future and those that have stood to defend. Wellbeing: The experience of health, happiness and prosperity. There are many ways to achieve wellbeing and Foundation 214’s mission is to discover and establish pathways of assistance in manifesting health, happiness and prosperity for our elderly, our children and our veterans of the many branches of the United States Military. foundation214.org
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