The face of war.
Photographer Susan Opton released a fascinating series of photographs of serving US soldiers via outdoor billboards across US cities. Confronting and powerful, the works have polarised opinion, some people seeing them as a celebration of patriotism, while others question the agenda of the shots. One quote reads: “Thank you for showing the person behind the uniform. Great work. As a veteran and an artist these images are inspiring.” Another says: “The billboards are simply ugly”.
I think the work and the unique way of presenting the shots is very powerful, they really capture the vulnerability of the human being behind the trained fighting machine of a soldier.
Visit the website, www.soldiersface.com gauge the reaction from the viewing public and see what you think yourself.
The pictures are almost soul-less recordings, almost topographical captures, they have to be. The soldiers have been used as a vehicle for the photographer's agenda and or politics, which in itself is fine but I doubt that the shots inspire patriotism in anyone. They are more likely to spark a thought toward our own mortality, of being left behind, of being just a number, a casualty...beautiful but dead. They lie there like mannequins from a shop front. Discarded, their bodies hidden from us but their open eyes, whether looking to the lens or not, begging recognition.
These shots don't need billboards to work....and that's always a good sign.