A Hmong grandmother with sacred strings of good will given to her by friends and relatives during the New Year celebration. © Michael Greenlar

An award-winning photographer for the Syracuse Post-Standard, Mike Greenlar traveled 10 times to a remote mountain region of Laos to document the effects of cluster bombing on the Hmong people. The US covert bombing campaign, between 1964 and 1973, gave Laos the distinction of being the most bombed country in the history of warfare — over two million tons of ordnance was dropped.

Mike documented life in two resettlement villages where the Hmong continue to farm land rife with unexploded cluster bombs and other munitions. His work shows the resourcefulness of a people who rely on each other, and on those very bombs, for their livelihood.

The result is a stunning collection of documentary photographs. Remnants of a Secret War, also the title of his recently published book, displayed both some of the collection found in the book and some never before published. The legacy of the “secret” bombings of Laos takes many forms and offers many stories. In this collection of painfully yet beautifully rendered black & white photographs, he shared some of them with us.

Thank you to our exhibition sponsors: John & Dolores Brule, Dik Cool, Kevin Dabit, Kathryn Davis, Annemarie Deegan, Therese Deegan, Doug Eaton & Nan Kronen, The Edgewood Gallery, Lanny Freshman & Rae Kramer, Bob Gates & Deborah Welsh, Kip & Terry Hargrave, Joe & Tarki Heath, the Holtz Family Fund, Shirley & Larry Novak, Paul Pearce & Diane Grafly, Walter Putter & Marilyn Smith, Sarah Stuart-McIlvain, Ann Tiffany & Ed Kinane, Yolanda Tooley, Ray Trudell, Ron Van Norstrand and Amy Zamkoff. Special thanks to our 2012-13 Season Sponsors: Ruth Putter & The Left Tilt Fund.

This exhibition was made possible with funds from