During the Vietnam War in the 1970s, demonstrations could be seen just outside classroom windows at the University of Wisconsin. Photographer Michael Kienitz was one of many students drawn to the power and devastating effects of war during this time. As a political philosophy major, Kienitz graduated to move on to photojournalism, capturing conflict on assignment for The Capital Times and U.S. News & World Report, among others. Amid the turmoil and debris of each ruined location he visited, Kienitz was amazed at the resilient attitude of the children. Now, in Small Arms: Children of Conflict at the Chazen Museum of Art, the opening act of a forthcoming international exhibition, Kienitz offers a first look at 36 black-and-white photographs he took over a 10-year period, highlighting the varying economic and political struggles of children from around the globe, each with their own unique story. "I hope people reflect on how they live while others around the world survive," Kienitz said in an interview with The Badger Herald. War children From the 1981 hunger strike in Northern Ireland to the 1982 Operation Peace for Galilee in Beirut, Lebanon — and, closer to home, the neo-Nazi events in Milwaukee in 1980 — at any given moment, someone somewhere is caught in violent conflict. Small Arms is unique in that it focuses on the children who must learn to live through such adult-made tensions. Some of Kienitz's photographs show children smiling and generally enjoying themselves, as is the case with the images of kids playing in rubble and on tanks, and of a boy throwing hoops — a German G-3 automatic rifle slung around his back. Perhaps they smile for the camera, or maybe, as Kienitz hypothesizes, "they are bemused because someone is interested in what they are doing." But not all of the photographs are so lighthearted. In "Makeshift Morgue," a group of young boys stand near tables where the charred bodies and decapitated heads of the deceased lie, the result of political turbulence in San Salvador in 1982. "I mean, that's about as horrific as you can ever see in your life," Kienitz said. "And look, one boy is covering his mouth, but another is more interested in the photographer. To me, this shows that [death] is probably something he has seen before." Twenty-five years later Spurred by a desire to learn the fate of each child he photographed in the 1980s, Kienitz decided to try to relocate them. Beginning in Northern Ireland this past summer, where he worked during the 1981 hunger strike, the artist was able to find most of the boys, and the truths that followed. While some survived relatively unscathed, others were haunted by the harrowing events they lived through. Paul was 7 years old when he met Kienitz. In "Milltown Cemetery," we see Paul's grief after the funeral of several Irish Republican soldiers who died fighting the British, leaning against the grave of a boy who never reached his eighth birthday. Likewise, "Waiting for Dad" captures an Irish youth leaning against the stone wall of a pub, waiting for his dad to return. Ten years after this photograph was taken, paramilitaries took him away for almost two weeks, shooting him in the hands, ankles and knees. "He had to cut off a finger of each hand, the wounds were so severe," Kienitz said. The story continues, "The paramilitaries came back a month later to apologize for mistaken identity." Kienitz reflects, "Can't you see from [the boy's] expression what is going to happen to him?" "Cheeky Chaps" tells a much different story. During the summer, Kienitz managed to regroup all five of the boys and take a current picture. It turns out that some are brothers, but the most arresting figure is unrelated. The friend is the only boy seated in the old photo, and he wears a mischievous grin. "I asked him, 'What were you thinking when I took this?'" Kienitz said. "He stated, 'I wanted to know where your wallet was.'" One month after this exchange, the grown-up boy was arrested for armed robbery, and he currently faces 20 years in prison. Call to action "These photographs reflect my desire to bring to people a part of the world that many of them will never see," Kienitz said. "When people look at these photographs, I hope they will ponder the implications of war and racism." The photographs of Small Arms:- Children of Conflict will be on display until Oct. 28, from which point they will travel to Ireland for an exhibit opening Nov. 2. This collection will also include Kienitz's photographs of the elderly, or, as he says, "the two groups who suffer most in conflict." In the end, these images will be presented in each of the cities they were photographed in, as well as a future opening in Amsterdam, in addition to a possible documentary. "The purpose of my creating this exhibition is to drive home the point that when the soldiers and tanks are no longer present, the scars of conflict [remain]," Kienitz said. "The conflict results in many tangible outcomes that will last a lifetime for children."