In a 19th-century shopping arcade in downtown Buffalo , spread out between a barber shop and a pet store, a stationery store and an art gallery, the ghosts of American wars cling to the walls.

A photography show called “Odyssey: Warriors Come Home” has taken over the halls at the Market Arcade, featuring work by 36 veterans, most of whom have served since Sept. 11, 2001. The veterans each participated in a three-month photography workshop , a partnership between the CEPA Gallery and the Veterans One-Stop Center of Western New York , designed to give them an outlet and to help them cope with the challenges of being back in civilian life.

Some of the participants had a longstanding interest in art, and some had never taken a picture that wasn’t on a cellphone or a disposable camera. But many of these men and women said photography has given them a way to process their past and reconnect with emotions long since shut away.

The workshops were taught by Brendan Bannon , a photographer and the founder of the project, and Julian Chinana , a former scout sniper with the Marines. Chinana, who received a purple heart for his service in Afghanistan, has studied photography and is now a police detective. He said that the point of the workshop, as he saw it, was to give veterans a way to communicate without having to have a conversation.