Another Point of Singularity

Women in the Military Memorial, Arlington Cemetary

One of the great tragedies of war is that so many young men and women have their hopes and dreams cut short by loss. An even greater tragedy is when we, the living, forget what the fallen have done for us. I recently attended a retirement ceremony at The Women In Military Service For America Memorial (at the Gateway Arch to Arlington National Cemetery). The ceremony was poignant, moving and rife with tradition, as they tend to be. I go to a lot of these things.



What made this retirement ceremony different was the display in the lobby of the Memorial building.. four concave sections of portraits of service men and women who have paid the ultimate price of service in Iraq and Afghanistan.





What made this project so moving was that each soldier's image was a portrait done by a wide variety of artists, in a wide variety of media. So, rather than gaze at a long series of military official portraits that sort of blend together, we are seeing a fairly unique representation of that individual's life. This exhibit is called FACES OF THE FALLEN, and will be at the Women's Memorial until May 31, unless it's held over.

What follows is a short list of the several hundred portraits that are on display. These are the ones that immediately caught my eye-- there are dozens and dozens more, but I don't have the bandwidth (or time) to display them. Where I can make out the name, I'll mention it. I took pictures of many more and will have a SLIDESHOW of the ones I didn't link to here at the end of this post.


Sgt Todd Robbins, USA


Unfortunately I can't make out the names in this light. Loved the etched black media here... very "monumental"


Again, the light was bad and I can't make it out. You get a sense of the PERSON in the portrait on the right...


The etched smoked glass portraits were spooky looking, and very dramatic


The parchment style portrait here was very effective. Note the change that is on many of the portraits. This was a common phenomena at the exhibit


Staff Sgt. Clint Ferrin, USA and Sgt. Daniel London(?), USA. Wonderful portraits. I like the bright colors that contrast with the somber mood. These faces look playful.


Can't make out the guy on the left, but that's Captain Tyler Fey on the right (USMC). Love the Terra Cotta 3D effect

Perhaps the most poignant pictures were the ones with NO faces.. they hadn't gotten around to painting them yet. Like for Specialist Cody Wentz, USA and Lance Corporal Jared Hubbard, USMC.


No images painted yet

I will overload this account if I attempt to paste every one of the pictures I took here. However, I have prepared a SLIDE SHOW for you to view them all on FLICKR, if you are interested.

If you are in DC and have the time, I strongly recommend you catch it before 31 May of this year. You can also look up the fallen on the website link above, but not all of the artwork is available online yet.

If you wish to donate so that the exhibit will be able to go on tour, please click HERE.