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Craig Barber enlisted in the Marines in 1966, when he was 18, and went to Vietnam. He was never sure where he was or the logic behind his orders. In the ’90s, Barber felt compelled to go back. “I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life being angry,” Barber said. “I wanted to heal a bit … to confront my boogeyman.”

He went three times, to photograph the rural landscape, still recovering from the long war. The result of his project is “Ghosts in the Landscape: Vietnam Revisited,” at Walsh Art Gallery at Fairfield University.

The exhibit’s title was meant to refer to Barber’s ghosts. But it takes on a double meaning. Because of the long exposure time — about 20 seconds — required of the pinhole cameras he used, humans are just barely present in Barber’s photos. People who can be seen are ciphers, shimmering and shadowy phantoms, among the rice paddies, thatched-roof huts, crumbling stone walls, fishing boats and stacks of firewood in a country that seems barely aware of the 20th century.

All the platinum prints in the 46-piece exhibit are diptychs, to present 180-degree views. The skies have a streaky cloudiness and the terrain an air of ominous abandonment. The photos’ titles enhance this feeling. Many call up images of wartime: “Somedays It Just Felt Relentless,” “Hope is All There Was,” “Peace is Forever Fragile” and “The Past Will Haunt Us Forever.”

One particularly memorable afternoon is remembered in the photos “The Old Man Served Tea.” As Barber took photos, an old man came out of a hut and offered him tea. The two men talked, and discovered they had fought on opposite sides in the war. “He said ‘I was V.C.’ [Viet Cong]. We had both been in the same area at one point,” Barber said. “When it came time to leave, we both thanked each other for not killing each other.”

GHOSTS IN THE LANDSCAPE: VIETNAM REVISITED will be at the Walsh Art Gallery, at the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, until June 6. fairfield.edu.