United photo industries Gallery presents «War and Peace»

Photos et Vignette «Esther» © Melissa Cacciola

Expositions du 4/4/2013 au 27/4/2013 Terminé

United Photo Industries Gallery 111 Front St. Suite 204 DUMBO Brooklyn France

«War and Peace» presents forty-eight tintype portraits of active duty military and veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines as a kind of confessional before the camera. Fifteen men and nine women of various backgrounds, ages, and roles in the armed forces have been photographed in uniform and civilian attire in an exploration of war, identity, and what serving in the armed forces means.

These double portraits contrast each individual and his or her role in the military against his or her identity in a contemporary world that is constantly shifting culturally and politically. A chef, an infantry rifleman, an explosive ordinance device disabler, and a fuel carrier are just a few of the diverse individuals represented. Through the photographic lens, we can study just how the airman in his dress blues relates to the man in the Guns N’ Roses t-shirt.

 «War and Peace» makes visible the present-day faces of those in service, a cross-section of our society that we may not often have the chance to see. Through the tintype, our humanity—epic and small—becomes transfixed by the intrinsic characteristics of one of the earliest photographic processes in our history.

© Melissa Cacciola «Ramon»

 

About Melissa Cacciola

She studied fine art and the historic preservation of art at Columbia University and New York University. Trained by the legendary John Coffer, she specializes in tintype and nineteenth-century photographic processes. Tintyping is an unforgiving medium that requires technical and aesthetic artistry, dedication, precision, and knowledge of its historical and chemical background.

 

© Melissa Cacciola «Travis»