THOMAS STARR
A thousand livesEACH TIME a milestone of America's war dead is reached in Iraq, the appropriate number of photographic portraits is published to illustrate the cumulative loss of life. While it is a fitting memorial to see these Americans as they were, the portraits contradict the concept of death. Viewers are reminded more of a page from a yearbook than the documentation of a tragedy. In Colonial Massachusetts, photographic portraits were not an option, but war deaths were still reported visually: with the simple silhouette of a coffin for each casualty. Captions identified the otherwise identical images. Visually, it was less personal but in content it was more to the point. This tradition continued into the 20th century with photographs of flag-draped coffins returning to American soil. In the war in Iraq, however, such images have been censored. Today, when confronted with photographs of 1,000 casualties in Iraq, we don't question why we are shown vitality when the words indicate the opposite. We understand -- on an intellectual level. But on an emotional level -- the level on which images operate -- the pictures cancel out the words. Perhaps this is why photojournalists are no longer allowed to depict the coffins of our returning war dead. Faces belie coffins.
Thomas Starr is associate professor of graphic design at Northeastern University.
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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