Binh Danh's “One Week's Dead” and Susan Sontag's “The Image-World”

If art is human expression, what does Binh Danh mean to display as he combines the faces of forty-two dead Vietnam War soldiers with grass and leaves? Is Danh's artwork merely a tribute to those who have lost their lives or is there more behind the symbolism? The first thing I begin to see while browsing through the exhibit of Danh's work at Light Work is the tall grass, but then the faces pop out at me through the grass and I feel like I am walking back in time to envision the scared American soldiers hiding in the bushes. As a testimony about war, I believe Binh Danh's pieces to be against war in general. The reason I believe this is because of Danh's focus on the individual soldiers instead of the overall grand scheme of the war. It is the soldier's faces that stand out as something extraordinary, against the backdrop of ordinary nature. Thus, I think that Danh's art demonstrates that even though war can sometimes be about protecting one's land, expanding and conquering as well, war should truly be about the freedom of individual people and since war ultimately results in more deaths, it should not be a solution to any problem. In any case, I believe Danh is expressing a disturbance, most likely resulting from the conflict of living in both Vietnam and the United States, because of the wildness of the grass and grotesque green color prevalent in all of the pieces. These theories are perfect topics for debate and many may look at Danh's work as something different from the way I see it. Finally, the exhibit definitely can be applied to the United State's current War on Terrorism because many believe that ultimately this current War on Terrorism will go down in history as a mistake like the Vietnam War. These believers think war is unnecessary and this relates to my theories on Danh's “One Week's Dead”.

“And one photograph, unlike one painting, implies that there will be others”, states Susan Sontag in “The Image-World”. Susan Sontag writes this because she adds that paintings sum up, but photographs always leave room for more interpretation. In this same way, the addition of portrait photos of soldier's to Dahn's works allow for viewers to continue to reflect on the meaning of his art, even as time moves on because real people are involved. It is amazing that Danh's subject matter can still be applied to society today. In addition, Sontag remarks that in today's world, particularly in western society, artists and photographers have free artistic expression. “One Week's Dead” is a perfect example of Sontag's idea of image's growing importance in society as they continue to change and evolve based on individual artist's discretion. Sontag states that in photographs the “dramatic is dramatized” and she also writes, “Often something disturbs us more in photographed form than it does when we actually experience it.” In the end, I believe Binh Danh's unique dramatization concerning the Vietnam War is an impetus for the disapproval of war.