Blog #2: Binh Danh

The exhibit by Binh Danh serves as a testimony to all of the lives lost during the Vietnam War. The work of art can be considered avant-garde because it challenged people's perceptions of wartime events. In our current time of war, it is important to realize that the masses of soldiers being sent abroad are not simply faceless anomalies doing something in a far away country that is of no concern to us. Danh's portraits portray the individual faces lost in war. Although many of these portraits are close-ups, in none of them are any of the faces completely distinguishable. This importance reveals that while photography can preserve an image, it will never duplicate exactly the reality. These men were brothers, fathers, and husbands, and seeing the faces triggers empathy in people. Danh's exhibit can be considered a ready-made. The men's faces were taken from a magazine where a week's casualities were photographed yearbook-style. Henceforth, Danh's creative reproduction putting faces admist leaves and grasses add a sense of poignancy that has enabled the exhibit to become renowned. Danh creates the photographs in his own image with the leaves and grasses to symbolize the jungles of Vietnam that still to this day can evoke painful memories. With our current war in many ways offering an eerie parallel to Vietnam, Danh's exhibit takes on added relevance as once again many soldiers are dying fighting a war that has polarized the American public.

In the early pages of Sontag's article she states that a photograph is not dependent on the image-maker (352). Yet, there are flaws in this statement. The image-maker or photographer can manipulate the camera to allow for changes in scenery, or how an event is perceived. Similarly, Danh is an image maker because he took photographs and changed the setting in order to evoke emotional response. Perhaps the original photos were actually in focus. Yet, Danh creates a scene that was not innate from the natural photo. Danh's exhibit does not seem to have much in common with the views laid down by Sontag on photography. Her article seems to be an overview of photography with critical overtones about the effects of photos on the world. Danh's exhibit is not based on photography. The signature element is the background of leaves and grass. This makes the work unique, while also serving as a powerful reminder to the myriad of lives lost during the war.