We Are Not Dead
What it is
Photographer Lalage Snow photographed and interviewed members of 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland before they were sent to Afghanistan, after three months’ service, and days after they returned home and put the result together in an exhibition that makes patent the accelerated physical and emotional wear and tear that of each and every soldier are altered after just 3 months in combat.
Why it is Cool
Because it is an extremely powerful way to show the deep – and mostly ineradicable – changes that a soldier undergoes after having been to war, and thus expose the need for a better understanding of their behaviour pre and post war service and, above all, act on the learnings in both a preventative and palliative way.
And also because if many politicians tend to turn a blind eye to the dreadful consequences of their rash decisions, then the general population has more of a chance of opening theirs and exert pressure on them to honour war veterans by taking better care of their physical and emotional wounds.
Hi Eduardo, you might be interested to look at my new blogpost ‘Anti-drugs timeline’, it includes face contrasts as well.
Wow! What can I say?
Brilliant!
It is incredible how war and conflicts can affect our mind and, specially, our bodies. It must stop.
Absolutely!
Always a pleasure, Carl!
This is breath-taking. How “deep” one simple Observation of Cool can go! Muite obrigado, o meu amigo! This Observation of Cool is about life and death, about the ignorance-in-last-resort of the powerful about what they do with the powerless, the impact of visual culture and how we can be moved by the intimacy of faces. This also is what Science of the time stands for: not so much hip gadgets but searching for Cool Expressions that have something “deep” to see about our cultures and futures. You are one of the best, Duca, and I sincerely hope to work with you, in whatever context,
Why does the majority of magazine covers feature a face? People love looking at human faces more than anything which is why, as you say, this project is an powerful way to communicate a message with way more impact than the written word or statistical graphs could ever achieve.
Absolutely. Faces tell us much more than anything else – when the eyes allow it.
Dear Eduardo,
It’s impressive to see their eyes, and hope transforming into an almost depression stage. This is a real and powerful way to bring consciousness to the real effects of the war. It also made me remember of the work from photographer Nicolai Howalt, that took the same approach to photograph young boxers before and after a match. here’s the link (and again, their eyes tell everything).
http://www.buzzfeed.com/sly/before-and-after-portraits-of-young-boxers
Regards,
Julia
Hi there, Julia. Yes, I visited the link you sent and there are many many points of contact there – at the end of the day, the eyes say it all!
Best,
Duca Garcia
Got your point about the eyes, its true but still wonder, are those ‘dudes’ the winners or losers of the match or is there no difference?
Nobody who takes actual part wins in a war. They may have won the battles and skirmishes but their victory takes a huge toll – innocence, the absence of true hatred or fear, all that is irredeemably lost.
I met with WW2 veterans from the Red Army who, some told me, had to “re-humanise” themselves after all they saw, suffered and had to do.
The big loss here is humanity – and givernments must know how to deal with it, before sending people to wars.
Hi Eduardo, with my question I was referring to the photo serie Julia mentions to be honest (boxing before and after the match)! But the topic you mention in your post is intruiging. Reminds me of a photo academy graduate who documented new recruits (marines) in a specific year. Each month he made new portraits. The drop outs were replaced by white spaces. The others became stronger each month. That changed their faces, and especially the look in their eyes.
Hi there, Robert! Your comment applies to both actually, since boxers are trained to “wage war on the ring”, so to speak. And as for the Marines, your insight is spot on, since those who “survive” the selection process progeessively gain a level of confidence that translates into the US Marines recruitment motto: “We don’t make compromises. We make Marines”, and they’re right, for every country needs some kind of elite force willing to go over and above the odds.
Sorry, Norbert. I wrote Robert instead of your real name… See how we are all “programmed” to a certain degree? Cheers,
Duca