The Return (on-going)
Making photographs and videos that illuminate the myriad stories of loss, separation and hope experienced by soldiers who have served in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, is a way to reflect on the societal impact of these wars. The aim is to create connections and tell stories that inform, evoke, remind and challenge the viewer to look closer: to relate.
Returning soldiers are often left at a crossroads; their internal barometer confounded by the search for normality after experiencing the surreal. Once home they may have a desire to be back with follow soldiers doing something of consequence. That desire is layered with the realization of the sacrifices and hardship they would once again endure as well as their families desire for them to remain stateside.
In making videos of soldiers swimming in natural bodies of water I aim to address this duality. The bodies of water become symbolic of many things, including different states of consciousness. The videos are accompanied by formal black and white portraits that hint at camouflage; the act, means, or result of obscuring things.
The interest is in what it means to not be able to fully return to one’s former self. I am considering the place that is left when no place feels like the right place. I realize this is not the case for all that have gone to war, but it is for many.
My brother went to war. Robert, my brother, flew Apache helicopters.
During his two tours of duty my family and I lived in a heightened state of fear and anxiety. I often wondered how much time he spent being afraid. We don’t talk about the specifics of his experience.
Falling in Love at the End of the Universe
The subjects of these photographs are wives, mothers, siblings; family members of soldiers. They stand in as witnesses for the traces, dust, and scent of what’s been lost and what’s been endured and what is still happening.
Making photograph of the family members of soldiers that have served in the Afghanistan and/or Iraq war is way to have a dialogue with a surreal experience. Ideally, the photograph can serve as a vehicle to illuminate the myriad and shared stories of loss, separation and hope.
A toll has been placed on ours and other countries soil due to continued global conflict. The reality of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars remains abstract and faraway. A growing numbness protects us, especially when sprinkled with a dose of indifference and sublimation. Our capacity to recognize and identify with others, without moral judgment, simply as human to human is threatened as our exposure grows.
Ultimately these images are made in recognition of what Joseph Campbell coined, ‘The joyful participation in the sorrows of the living.’