Soldier/Many Wars

Suzanne Upton's images of soldiers – on billboards in ten cities across the country and at Platform Gallery this month. They wordlessly illuminate the soldier's condition and the human condition. And they've sparked much controversy.

See them here – Soldier and Many Wars, and at Platform in Seattle.

Suzanne Opton,  Soldier/Many Wars, January 5 to February 11, 2012 
Platform Gallery, Seattle, WA
Artist’s reception: Thursday, February 2
Artist’s lecture: Friday, February 3, 7PM , Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle

Soldier: Mickelson

Cliff Austin, WWII

From Platform's press release: "In the two series, Soldier/Many Wars, photographer Suzanne Opton photographs American soldiers close up, laying their heads before the camera, and American veterans who are draped. The subjects of the Soldier series are all young, active-duty soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the photographs were presented as billboards in nine American cities from 2008 through 2010.

"Reviewing them for The New Yorker, photography critic Vince Aletti wrote: “The posture is vulnerable and startling intimate, as if these young men and women were facing someone in bed or on a stretcher ... Opton catches soldiers both on guard and off, looking out and inward simultaneously, and we can only imagine what they’re thinking, what they’ve done, and what they dread.”

"The project received extensive press coverage and even sparked a heated debate about America’s image of the military. The Many Wars series presents portraits of veterans from American wars over the past 70 years, most of whom are in treatment for combat trauma. Through interviews by the photographer, we learn how war has affected their lives."

Denver

St. Paul