Truth of War Project
Artist Statement
In this woodburning, I depict Vietnam being sniped by an American sniper. In addition, I also include an American flag in the background to show how we not only killed Vietnam and its people, but also lost plenty of American lives. I chose to express my message through a sniper scope to show how we were in control and chose the fate of the war for ourselves and others. Originally, I was going to depict my message through a painting. Then I broadened my artistic horizon and found woodburning, a unique medium for art.
In this woodburning, I depict Vietnam being sniped by an American sniper. In addition, I also include an American flag in the background to show how we not only killed Vietnam and its people, but also lost plenty of American lives. I chose to express my message through a sniper scope to show how we were in control and chose the fate of the war for ourselves and others. Originally, I was going to depict my message through a painting. Then I broadened my artistic horizon and found woodburning, a unique medium for art.
Project Description
For the Truth of War project, the objective was to derive the nasty yet essential truths of war from the reading The Things They Carried. The Things They Carried, or tttc, is a collection of short stories by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. His third book about the war, it is based upon his experiences as a soldier in the 23rd Infantry Division, 3rd Platoon. I read many stories from tttc and and answered a question sheet about each story and eventually had a Socratic seminar. After we get back from break, we will conduct an art piece about the book. This is a free based part of this project and will yield amazing results. Seminar Reflection
With the completion of the novel, The Things They Carried, a Socratic Seminar was held about the connections and deeper meanings that were uncovered in the reading. In the seminar, I know I did well making connections, dropping intellectual bombs, and including others in the conversation. Yet, my use of evidence was lacking. I could’ve checked my facts and brought up more evidence in the discussion to further enhance my point. At one point in the discussion, we were asked about Ted Lavender's death, who I confused with Kurt Lemon. In hindsight, I could’ve spent more time in preparation for this seminar. Another main aspect of the seminar was to finalize the ideas uncovered in The Things They Carried such as the ever-changing definition of the truth of war. Tim O'Brien, the author of tttc, says the way to know a true war story is in the details, the seemingness. Yet, one person could not comprehend all of what is happening. Then he brought to attention how a true war story should make your stomach turn, only to follow up with the fact that the book could not all be true. This shows that the definition of truth in war is ever changing due to its traumatic nature. |
Interview reflection
For the Animas High School Truth of War project we had to conduct an interview. We then conferred and asked Dominic Armato for an interview ( he was a E-6 jet mechanic in Vietnam). I believe as the interview was hindered from its true potential due to me ad my procrastinative apathetic group members. If we refined our questions and rehearsed the interview it definitely could have been more successful. In the group, there were three roles: the communicator whose job was to schedule the interview and ask the questions, the the logistic person whose job was to initially contact the veteran and set up the interview room, lastly the technologist, who was to download the story corp application and record then upload the interview. Yet, I ended up doing everything other than asking the questions in the interview. Ultimately, this caused our group to be unsuccessful. Take-Aways and Understandings
The objective of this project was to uncover the truth of war and find a meaning for ourselves, and sadly I had uncovered some unpleasant truths of war. I feel as war is surhumane and is something that can be weighed above a life or even a nation. war breaks down its contenders until they are under its dictate and higher power rule. I learned some of the means of war used and how the war came to begin, and I feel as they are shameful unjust reasons. Moving forward I will keep this knowledge in mind as an adult, and how America was unaware of the war at their front door instigated by their own government. |