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Soldiers by Suzanne Opton
Posted by Eliza Williams, 11 October 2010, 11:06 Permalink Comments (9)
Birkholz, 353 days in Iraq, 205 days in Afghanistan
Suzanne Opton's striking and controversial portrait series of US soldiers is currently showing as part of the 2010 Brighton Photo Biennial.
Opton's began photographing soldiers in 2004. For this first series, she asked for a particular pose, capturing the soldiers lying with their heads on one side, staring into the camera lens. According to Opton, the soldiers were more than willing to adopt this position, and she would wait until they became unguarded before she would take the shots. The resulting images are unsettling in their intimacy, and in some the faces resemble death masks, a quality that has led the work to become hugely contentious.
Bruno, 355 days in Iraq
Williams, 396 days in Iraq
This controversy was actively sought by Opton, who first began displaying the photographs at a time in the US when imagery that gave a questioning or potentially negative impression of war was virtually banned in the country. Rather than simply exhibit the images in a gallery space, where they would be seen by a limited audience, Opton displayed her photographs on billboards around the country, drawing a huge response, both positive and negative, from those who saw them. These reactions played out on her blog, soldiersface.com, where viewers continue to leave comments on the series to this day.
L Jefferson, length of service undisclosed
Claxton, 120 days in Afghanistan
Part of Opton's intention was to highlight the individuals that serve in the US army, to counter the image of soldiers as being faceless drones. Alongside each photograph, Opton presents the name of the soldier featured and where and how long they have served, giving a small insight into the experiences of the people shown.
Andrew Cotrel, Iraq
Jordan Paquette, Iraq
For a second series of work, Many Wars, which is also on display as part of the BPB, Opton offers even more information about her subjects. The series shows US war veterans who have served in conflicts including Iraq, Vietnam and World War II and are all suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. For these photographs, Opton offered the veterans a prop of a piece of cloth to use as they liked. Some wrapped themselves in it as if seeking comfort, while on others it appears almost as a shroud. Alongside these images, Opton presents a text explaining the veterans' experiences and how they now feel about the wars in which they fought. To read some of the texts, visit suzanneopton.com.
Steve Hensel, Iraq
Shea McClure, Iraq
Opton's work appears as part of the New Ways of Looking group show at the Brighton Photo Biennial. It is on show at the former Co-op department store in the city until November 14. More info is at bpb.org.uk.
9 Comments
Beautifully still photographs. It's difficult to look away, and really forces you to take notice of the person, not the body.
2010-10-11 15:38:37
These are great I love the idea. The ones that works best for me are the portraits concentrating only on the face. Claxton, 120 days in Afghanistan is the best in my opinion as the emotion has been captured perfectly, the soldier looks so empty of any personality as if it was completely taken away. Great work.
2010-10-11 20:21:47
technical execution is sound no doubt - but I find this kind of subject very troubling. We increasingly find the media and culture in general celebrating the 'brave' efforts of soldiers who 'have to go' to war, and then paradoxically find culture celebrating them as individuals. If they truly are not faceless drones and individuals with independent conscience - then how about portraying something that exudes that more than showing them looking so sombre and victimised. A solider is an instrument of war - not a puppy in a basket. Showing them out of conflict like this is fine by all means, but what I'd find far more interesting would be to see this same principle of photographic execution covering the REAL victims of war - those that DIDN'T enlist, those who democratically elected their leader [and those that didn't] who have had to suffer the consequences of imperial disatisfaction - the REAL untold stories are always those of the CIVILIAN victims. I'd appreciate a greater respect for THEIR vunerability and suffering than the exhaustive flag waving passivity of the fact that millions of people, like us except in colour, die everyday because of a sense of duty that overrides the right or wrong of a situation in the re-programmed mind of our soldiers as a result of an order executed by a priveleged walrus in parliament whos had too much to drink at the free bar in Westminster.
2010-10-11 22:53:07
Really powerful photography. I agree they are a little unsettling as they have a very intense appearance. Makes me feel sad.
2010-10-12 10:22:46
Whenever I see soldiers, all I really see is the stark face of unemployment - apart from a few exceptions.
2010-10-12 13:43:11
Excellent.
2010-10-12 13:47:24
I'm sorry but this is really dull and pretentious - it says absolutely nothing.
2010-10-18 15:52:15
I recently saw these prints at an exhibition in Brighton. Extremely powerful and moving.
2010-10-19 09:56:44
I thought these photographs were amazing and turned around my views on war photograpy, if you would not gain any feelings or ideas from these photos you would to be very closed minded. Possibley the best photographys i saw that day.
2010-11-11 14:22:29
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