Mac MacDevitt is an associate member of Chicago Veterans for Peace (VFP) and Committee Chair of the My Lai Memorial Project. He is an artist, storyteller and educator who came of age and was forever changed during the Vietnam War. He was radicalized by witnessing the wounded fellow protesters beaten by U.S. Marshals as night fell after the March on the Pentagon in 1967. In 1981 Mac did a social work internship at the VA Hospital in White River Junction, Vermont in the psych department where he experienced vets dealing with ghosts from Vietnam and earlier wars. He is retired from a checkered career as a teacher, facilitator, community activist and public health professional.
Most recently as an artist Mac developed the My Lai Memorial Exhibit and embarked on a nationwide tour hosted by Veterans for Peace chapters in March 2018.
“Developing this Memorial Exhibit is a new venture for me. As an artist, I’ve experimented with interactive art, most recently sculptural collage building, as a way of stimulating dialogue and connection with participants. I came of age during the Vietnam War. I’ve always felt broken-hearted by our actions in Vietnam. When I learned that the Pentagon was spending $63M to essentially whitewash our military actions in the war, I got a green light from the members of Chicago VFP to develop this traveling exhibit as a memorial to the Vietnamese civilians who suffered and died in our futile and destructive attempts to “win” the war.”
On the Memorial Exhibit tour Mac is exploring how the exhibit’s sculptural collages, designed to help participants with processing their exhibit experience, can deepen understanding and empathy, and how we can tap into the artist in each of us and join with others to speak up for social justice.
Ashley Borg is writer, artist, and graphic designer who earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Ashley began her career as a page designer, building story concepts and leading design teams for newspapers in Illinois, Iowa, and Utah. It was there that she recognized the importance of visual presentation and layering news content with strategic placement and formatting to achieve maximum impact for every story.
From there, her professional pursuits naturally evolved and Ashley has spent the past decade in visual marketing—building brands for small businesses, non-profits, and organizations. She enjoys the process of shaping and strengthening a brand’s story through visual means and finding creative ways to communicate it across multiple complementary platforms.
Ashley currently owns Notch Collective, LLC., which specializes in teaming up creatives with brands, small businesses, and startups. She uses her substantial experience and insight to thoughtfully build teams that bring maximum creative firepower to every project.
Ashley has worked extensively with non-profits to promote their missions and messaging, which she finds both professionally and personally fulfilling. Everybody Makes Music, Suffrage100MA, Wasatch Roller Derby, Ladies of the Lake Roller Derby, and Pumping Station: One have all benefitted from Ashley’s caring and skillful experience. Ashley also partnered with Mac MacDevitt to conceive, design, and build the My Lai Memorial exhibit, which she considers both a career and personal high point.