Photosynthesizing War

The Binh Danh exhibit at the Light Work gallery was very haunting. Had Danh printed the pictures on a more formal medium, their impact would have decreased severely. Something about the faces of the victims of war trapped in leaves and grass brings the effects of war home. It brings the observer directly into the setting, despite the years that have passed. It serves as a testimony about the Viet Nam war in this way, by also showing that the jungle itself still holds the effects of this war. This theme of remembering the dead and the atrocities of war also reflects our current times and the war we face today.
I thought that this exhibit was very successful, by making use of the leaves and grass. By doing so, Danh seemed to take the emphasis off of the picture itself, and more onto the medium. This brought about a new sensation while viewing the exhibit. Sontag claims that "photographs are a way of imprisoning reality" and that "one can't possess reality, one can possess (and be possessed by) images." These photographs of the soldiers, whose souls' are forever "imprisoned" in the jungles in which they fought, eerily possess us and make us aware of the effects of war.