Friday Forum: Faces of the Fallen

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If you’ve been following this site for awhile, you know I often refer to it as a collaboration. 

Over the past few weeks, this has never been more true.  As BnN becomes better known, one thing it’s becoming known for is the depth and quality of the voices contributing to the conversation.  In this spirit, I think I’m going to step aside on Fridays and leave the BAG in the capable hands of you, my fellow interpreters. 

Just as challenging as the analysis of a news image is the process of selecting just the right one.  My week-end contribution will be the nomination of a visual that, I hope, will be worthy of your sizing and deconstruction. 

To provide you more context, here’s the caption the goes with our Friday shot:

Portrait of deceased Illinois Army National Guard member Spc. Jeremy L. Ridlen, of Clinton, Illinois, is part of a collection of portraits of more than 1,300 U.S. military men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan on display at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington Nation Cemetery, March 23, 2005. The exhibit, ‘Faces of the Fallen,’ contains work of nearly 200 artists who worked from pictures of the dead.

(I am pleased to use this image because the Faces of the Fallen project was originally inspired by newspaper photographs.  More information is available here, and you can see the on-line portrait gallery here.)

The BAG is now open.

(image: Reuters /unattributed in YahooNews)