AMN Jonathan Antonio "Jake" Yelner 2014

Binh Danh made this evocative photograph of AMN Jonathan Antonio "Jake" Yelner's grave using a 19th-century photographic process. The image feels like it’s emerging from another time. I can imagine Danh carefully preparing the glass plate, applying the light-sensitive emulsion, and then patiently waiting for the image to expose in his camera. It’s a whole process, slow and deliberate. The composition is simple, right? A white cross, standing amidst the grass with a little flag, but the tonal range is deep, dark blacks to bright silvers, and it gives the image this haunted quality. It makes you think about loss, memory, and the weight of history. It’s a reminder that art can be a way to engage with difficult subjects, to honor the past, and maybe even to start a conversation about the present. Visual art can be so powerful.