{"id":649,"date":"2005-03-22T21:10:36","date_gmt":"2005-03-23T03:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=649"},"modified":"2005-03-22T21:20:33","modified_gmt":"2005-03-23T03:20:33","slug":"artfully-honoring-the-fallen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=649","title":{"rendered":"Artfully Honoring the Fallen"},"content":{"rendered":"

An exhibit is soon to open that will pay a rather special tribute to our soldiers who themselves have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq — a collection of over 1,300 personal portraits<\/a> to be displayed at Arlington National Cemetary.<\/p>\n

Spc. Brandon Tobler, an Army reservist from Portland, Ore., grew up with one mom.<\/p>\n

But now that Tobler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life has ended \u00e2\u20ac\u201d cut short at age 19 in a vehicle crash during a blinding sandstorm in Iraq on March 22, 2003 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the young soldier has two moms: his birth mother, and Washington portrait artist Annette Polan.<\/p>\n

Now Tobler \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is my baby, too,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Polan said March 15, as she ran her fingers gently over the surface of the 6-inch-by-8-inch portrait she created for the new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Faces of the Fallen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d project.<\/p>\n

Polan traced a finger over the portrait\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s full lips.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153His mouth is so alive for me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she murmured. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see it and think, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI hope he had a girlfriend. I hope he had his first kiss.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The power of art to spark emotions in that manner \u00e2\u20ac\u201d emotions a photograph may leave untouched \u00e2\u20ac\u201d is what Polan and more than 150 volunteer artists are hoping to evoke with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Faces of the Fallen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d an exhibition of 1,327 individual portraits of servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The exhibit, which opens to the public March 23 at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 5, includes portraits or silhouettes of every servicemember killed while deployed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom through Nov. 11, 2004.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not a disrepectful protest of flag-draped faux coffins. This is not a stab at our troops’ efforts in Iraq. I hasten to point out that, unlike the casualty figures so commonly bandied about, our losses in Afghanistan are being included and honored. <\/p>\n

The military and the families obviously agree.<\/p>\n

Retired Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Memorial Foundation president and a friend of Polan, was an early supporter.<\/p>\n

Vaught acted as a liaison with the Defense Department, as well as offering the memorial as the exhibit space.<\/p>\n

Before the project got under way, the different military services mailed letters to each family whose portrait was scheduled to be part of the exhibit, giving them the opportunity not to participate if they so chose.<\/p>\n

They were also informed that once the exhibit is done touring, each honored servicemember\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family would be given the portrait.<\/p>\n

Not a single family declined, Polan said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The intent of the portraits, however, is not to remind viewers of death, but to celebrate lives that are normally noted only in ever-growing statistics, said Dennis O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neil, an expert in print-making who provided 200 hand-screened silhouettes for the exhibit that are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153place holders\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for servicemembers whose photos were not available, or whose assigned artists have not completed their assignments.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When one artist deals with one soul, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re re-humanizing the fact that these people lost their lives,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neil, who in addition to working as an artist is also a professor of art at the Corcoran.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Before the exhibit opens to the public, there will be a special reception and viewing for the families of the servicemembers. Polan said that 1,800 family members have indicated that they will attend, including a family traveling from India for the event, and a military widow who is coming from Australia.<\/p>\n

For all the viewers of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Faces of the Fallen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Polan said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what I really hope [the exhibit] ultimately has is the quality of healing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We as a country are going through a very divisive time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Polan said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But we can all agree as Americans that the troops who sacrificed their lives, deserve to be honored and remembered.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s hoping the families are helped in their search for solace and healing, and I want to thank Polan and the other artists involved for their efforts.<\/p>\n

More information, including a slide show of some of the portraits, can be found at the Faces of the Fallen website<\/a>. Hmmm … might be time for another trip to D.C. soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An exhibit is soon to open that will pay a rather special tribute to our soldiers who themselves have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq — a collection of over 1,300 personal portraits to be displayed at Arlington National Cemetary. Spc. Brandon Tobler, an Army reservist from Portland, Ore., grew up with one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-military","category-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}