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New York-based photographer Suzanne Opton is interested in the
individual behind the uniform. Soldier, on view in the Betz Gallery, is
an exhibition of photographic portraits of military men and women at
Fort Drum in New York shortly after their completion of at least 100
days overseas in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Using a 4 x 5 view camera, Opton devised several strategies for these
portraits, including traditional views of face and upper torso as well
as more unusual poses in which each soldier is asked to lay his or her
head down on a table. Opton’s images sometimes include spouses or other
soldiers, and often focus on close-ups with heads and hands nearly
filling the whole frame. These postures provide a vulnerable look at
the faces of individuals who have literally been on the front lines. As
Opton expressed, “In making these portraits of soldiers, I simply
wanted to look in the face of someone who’d seen something
unforgettable.”
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