These photographs are recreations, fragments of my imagination.
In the summer of 2013, news came of a friend's death on a US military base. Was it a suicide, a crime, an accident? My imagination began to fill in the gaps of the unknown, inconclusive investigation. Research led me to other news reports of deaths on US bases--other vague, unresolved tragedies in locations I associated with order and finite solutions. I wondered about the circumstances, the families, each soldier in their last moments of life, their dreams when they joined the military, only to end up as a case with no closure. These photos realize and make physical the images that my mind has created to fill the voids in the military investigations.
The military is by nature secretive; in some instances it is for the protection of families, of the country; in other instances it is for protection of themselves and they know more than they are telling.
I remember sitting at my kitchen table
I just don't get it
How can there be no given answer?
Why is there no closure?
You have used them
They bleed, sweat, and cried for you
They fought for you
And you turned your back
You folded a flag and closed their case
Where’s the glory in that?
It all just seemed so wrong to me, and I couldn't get it out of my head
I still can't.
missing soldier, missing truth is meant to be seen in installation form.