Army PFC., James J. Coon 2014

Curator: Standing before us is Binh Danh's poignant mixed-media piece, "Army PFC., James J. Coon," created in 2014. It’s a photograph, but also more than that, isn't it? Editor: Haunting is the first word that comes to mind. The high-contrast black and white amplifies the desolation, those crosses receding into the distance...it speaks volumes about loss, even before you know the subject matter. Curator: It does. Danh layers images and meaning in a way that transcends traditional photography. He’s using a daguerreotype process, which itself evokes the past. The soldier's grave marker becomes both a memorial and a ghostly trace. Editor: Absolutely. The cross, of course, is loaded with symbolic weight – sacrifice, faith, memory. But even the helmet perched on top…it feels so personal, so vulnerable. What are your thoughts about Danh’s use of objects in this landscape? Curator: For me, these elements introduce a tangible connection to PFC Coon’s reality, humanising him beyond just another name on a cross. Danh often explores themes of memory and war through innovative methods; there is a reverence in how the photograph captures the cross nestled within a sea of other crosses. The starkness almost evokes absence but conversely highlights life. Editor: It brings to mind other memorials too, especially in its layout. It shares DNA with places of memory that try to grapple with representing something immense like human loss at a national scale. The flag adds another layer to all the meaning that's happening here: Patriotism, country, identity. They all clash in a place like this. Curator: Precisely, there is a confluence of narratives – loss, patriotism, remembrance – and the daguerreotype imbues the work with a gravitas that connects us directly with both the past and this continuing present reality of war. Editor: I'm left wondering how we move forward and remember in our culture today with pieces like this showing us, uncomfortably, where we already stand. It encourages meditation; Danh challenges us. Curator: A powerful act of witnessing and remembering, rendered with a fragile beauty, a beauty even within all that desolation and meaning.