Stealing The Trauma Of War Essay

1657 Words7 Pages

You are serving on the front lines of warfare halfway across the world and you have not seen your family in months. Your mornings are early. Your days are late and you feel like you may never go home. You have personally shot the enemy and the enemy has shot some of your personal friends. You have seen the torture that takes place overseas. You have seen the heartbreak of loss time and time again. How could you possibly come home the same person that was stationed nine months early? The greatest battle for many men and women that have served in the war is not necessarily the scene of war itself, but rather the aftermath. When they arrive home with many wounds. When they arrive home to their family that they have not seen in months. When they arrive home and everyone expects them to be the same person as they were when they left to serve. When they arrive home and the American public does not understand what injuries that they still are …show more content…

Because many people have assumptions that if a man or woman comes back from war without any physical injuries then they are okay, the photographer, Lynn Johnson wanted to show other wise. All the images are set in the veterans’ home surround by their daily life occurring around them, but they all have masks on to represent their wounds from war. The photos are moving to the viewer because all the men featured with masks do look like they are injured when wearing the masks. The masks are gory and abstract to help bring the full essence of strain put on veterans. Although veterans of war have many unseen wounds that need help healing the American people do not see them, so through the use of these photographs, Johnson is able to evoke a viewer 's emotion to try and make one fully understand the battle these men and women face when they come