In this project, we explored the truth of war and what that means to us. To kick off the project we learned about communism and the Cold War to get a sense of why the US went to Vietnam. We read a book called The Things They carried to get an understanding of what perspectives on war soldiers have. After this, we really dove into what happened in the Vietnam War. We heard from actual veterans who gave us insider perspective which was amazing to experience. By learning all these aspects of war we were then able to explore truths of war in an art piece.
Through this project, I was able to strengthen my perspective and critical thinking skills. War is such a tricky subject to understand and I think through the readings and activities we did, I was able to get a grip on the complex perspectives that were present in the Vietnam War. An activity that helped me do this was the Gulf of Tonkin timed write. Before we wrote, we explored different artifacts that were evidence for why the US went to war in Vietnam. By reading this evidence I was able to see the different perspectives on the war and think about the fact that war is not cookie cutter image.
What I will take away from this project is that war is hell. Even when it seems like there is a good reason for it, there is nothing good about it. Before this project, I knew that war was bad but after learning so much about it I have come to realize war is hell. It should only be used as a last resort and even then should be heavily considered. It is not something to take lightly. It affects everyone from civilians to soldiers to the families back home. The truth from war that I will take with me is war is hell.
Through this project, I was able to strengthen my perspective and critical thinking skills. War is such a tricky subject to understand and I think through the readings and activities we did, I was able to get a grip on the complex perspectives that were present in the Vietnam War. An activity that helped me do this was the Gulf of Tonkin timed write. Before we wrote, we explored different artifacts that were evidence for why the US went to war in Vietnam. By reading this evidence I was able to see the different perspectives on the war and think about the fact that war is not cookie cutter image.
What I will take away from this project is that war is hell. Even when it seems like there is a good reason for it, there is nothing good about it. Before this project, I knew that war was bad but after learning so much about it I have come to realize war is hell. It should only be used as a last resort and even then should be heavily considered. It is not something to take lightly. It affects everyone from civilians to soldiers to the families back home. The truth from war that I will take with me is war is hell.
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Hope
Acacia Bryson Collage on canvas April 2017 What gives a soldier hope when they are facing the impossible? I used photos from the Vietnam War era to depict the people who soldiers left at home. These are the people the soldiers could think of to give them hope to keep fighting. I created a person sitting against a tree in all black to show a soldier thinking about his family back home. The word hope is simply written across the bottom of the canvas to show the audience the main concept of the art piece: hope. My truth of war is when you are lost in a place of darkness and pain, finding something to give you hope is never too far away. I want to show that you can always find hope in the places you might not expect. War is awful and sad and horrible, which is something that we know all too well. I want to focus on what gave people strength during this hard time. Specifically, what gave soldiers hope when they were away from home? When creating this piece I decided to layer the photos by hand instead of making a collage on Photoshop because I wanted it to feel slightly messy. Memories aren’t perfect and clean. They are jumbled and not in order, which is the way I wanted this piece to feel. When you look at it I want you to feel like you are inside a soldier's head. The most of the pictures used in this art piece are from an article on CNN titled “What the Late '60s Really Looked like”. I also used photos from an article from BBC titled,”In pictures: The American Dream” because the photos I imagined soldiers taking photos that would remind them of home and America. I wanted to use authentic photos from this time period. Hope is truly a powerful thing that can carry a person through even the toughest of situations. Through reading soldiers letters home to their families, I found that the people back home gave them strength. They gave them the hope to keep going. Now, more than ever, it is important to keep hope in our hearts. |
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