Artist Statement

Combat Witness

This series of images and interview excerpts is meant to bring to life the reality of war as told by those who experienced it. Artistically, I have approached this project as an outsider, but have from it’s conception considered it very personal by choosing to include my father as well as my grandfather. The photographs, exposed on medium format black and white film, are intended to accurately represent the individual as seen by a formal audience as well as the individual as seen introspectively by his or her self. While my subjects’ eyes are open in one photograph, the other photograph breaks away from traditional ideas of portraiture and is intended to convey a loss of individuality and can be interpreted as a projection of vulnerability. It is with this duality in mind that I seek to create a connection between viewer and subject and to better understand, as an outsider, what it means to have been witness to combat.