Army SGT. Marvin R. Sprayberry III 2014

Binh Danh created this haunting photograph as an act of memorial. The image is a field of white crosses, each a marker of loss. I imagine Danh, camera in hand, walking through this landscape of grief, trying to capture not just the scene, but the weight of it. The process itself, the careful composition, the deliberate exposure, feels like a form of meditation. The image is stark. It reminds me of the work of photographers like Timothy O’Sullivan, who documented the American Civil War. There is a similar sense of witnessing history, of bearing witness to the aftermath of conflict. Danh adds to that legacy by focusing on the personal, the individual stories lost in the broader narrative of war. Artists are always in dialogue, borrowing, responding, and pushing against what came before. This piece resonates with a long history of artists trying to make sense of tragedy, to find meaning in the face of senseless loss. It’s a somber, powerful reminder of the human cost of conflict.