A Battle Lost

101" x 52" x 6". Rolled paper handmade from military uniforms, gold foil & matte medium. 2015.

Photo credit to Chris Gray with CS Gray Photography.

​This work represents the 22 veterans that take their own lives every day. 8,030 rolls make up A Battle Lost, one for every veteran suicide last year. I rolled the paper to create a spiral, a symbol of life to death, beginning to end. The gold is inspired by a Japanese practice called Kintsugi where they fill cracks in pottery with gold. This highlights the cracks and damage, yet shows that it is now stronger than ever, as well as more valuable and precious. The gold fills in the cracks of various abstract maps from war zones dating back to WWII to present. If we want to fix the problem of veteran suicide and become a stronger military community, we need to band together and come up with a solution. My thoughts are that the issues stem all the way back to Active Duty status and the stigmas attached to seeking mental health attention - this never leaves us. Let us unite and make a change, one day at a time, adapt and overcome.