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Sylvia Bowersox is an artist who explores the social impact of war on the everyday soldier. She first served in Iraq as a U.S. Army broadcast journalist during the tumultuous days of the Coalition Provisional Authority, then returned for over two more years as a press officer at Embassy Baghdad, and with the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). After returning home traumatized, she turned to the VA for help, where like many other veterans, she was treated with a mind-numbing hodgepodge of drugs in lieu of therapy. With the help of “battle buddies” from Iraq and her service dog Timothy, Sylvia got plugged into an excellent treatment team, and emerged with a passion for using intermodal art to share her experiences with others.

Sylvia received a BA in English Literature, and a MA in Creative Writing from the California State University system. She was selected for CreatiVets Visual Arts program, where she explored contemporary arts with other disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. This culminated in her enrolling in, and receiving a MFA in Performance Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2022. Her published poetry and short stories focus on quotidian life in a combat zone, and the challenges faced by veterans when coming home. She was a finalist for the 2022 Bridge Award for Playwriting with her play “Lawn Ornaments,” a social commentary on a veteran’s experience in a flagship VA Hospital. Her visual art has been featured by Twitter Stripes and in regional exhibitions; she and Timothy had a starring role in To Be of Service, a documentary film by Josh Aronson about the role of service dogs in restoring the lives of combat veterans. Sylvia currently lives amidst the splendid beauty of Northeast Wisconsin with her veteran husband Jon, and her semi-retired Labrador retriever Timothy.