Eyes Wide Open

MyGen Profile GeneratorEyes Wide Open is an exhibit that contains a pair of empty combat boots for every American service man and woman that has lost their life in the Iraq War. EWO is under the leadership of American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker not-for-profit social justice organization. The intent of the exhibit is to clearly show the human cost of war. Although AFSC is a pacifist organization, the exhibit is intended to provide a place of public mourning regardless of political perspective. The exhibit also contains shoes representing Iraqi civilians who have lost their lives during occupation. A study by Johns Hopkins University estimates that as many as 655,000 Iraqi have died in the past four years.The exhibit was started by AFSC Chicago. It was introduced in Chicago's Federal plaza in January of 2004 with 504 pairs of boots. In April 2007, the exhibit grew to more than 3,400 pairs of boots and AFSC determined that the entire national exhibit had become too large to transport. As a result, the exhibit has been broken down state-by-state. Currently, nearly every state has their own exhibit.To contact the coordinator in your state about hosting the exhibit pleas visit: http://afsc.org/eyes/states.phpThe exhibit in its entirety would now contain more than 4,000 pairs of empty boots.