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Faces of the Fallen The Faces of the Fallen exhibition
 The
story of Faces of the Fallen begins with a visual artist, a national newspaper
and a cup of tea. When Annette Polan opened her morning Washington Post
sometime in the fall of 2004 she saw, not just thumbnail photographs of
her countrymen and women fallen in the first wars of a new century,
but a portrait gallery. She determined to paint these portraits.
Within six months, this vision had become an unprecedented tribute by
America’s artists to America’s heroes: a two-and-a-half-year-long
exhibition of 1,319 original works, contributed by Polan and 248 other
artists, seen by more than 650,000 visitors to the Women In Military Service
For America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery (WIMSA).
“My reaction was immediate because there had been too few public
acknowledgements of our losses in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Polan explained.
“I hoped then that the power of the artists who created these portraits
would help pull Americans together to remember and pay homage to the men
and women who had died so far away.”
The portraits were arranged chronologically by date-of-death, and often
by incident.
At the exhibition opening, family members congregating at the portrait
of a loved one met others who shared the same tragedy and, in several
cases, the artist who had commemorated them.
They brought their loss, anger, grief, remembrance and pride, and left
hundreds of mementos, now carefully preserved under the direction of the
National Park Service.
“Your sacrifice to this country means the world to us all.
We will remember and miss you. You keep my family and me safe everyday.
I’m glad I am an American,” reads one representative message,
improvised on paper torn from the exhibition catalogue. And another, “I
miss you, Pappy.”
This unanticipated legacy comprises photos, medals, notes from comrades,
family, friends and neighbors, business cards, cigarettes, silk flowers,
a lipstick, teddy bears, school and military ribbons, even a box of pasta.
The Vietnam Memorial wall prepares you, but the impact of this number
of faces occupying actual space is overwhelming. “I didn’t
know that number looked so big,” said one young girl.
“Sadly, our exhibition portrayed less than half the number of brave
men and women who have lost their lives,” Polan acknowledged. “I
grieve that the count in Iraq alone has now reached 3,500. We didn’t
add additional faces to our ‘snapshot’ exhibit but hope that
their families understand that Faces of the Fallen is a tribute to them
as well.”
Arriving at the project shortly before the opening, I was immediately
impressed by the voluntary organizers who can best be described as a “kitchen
cabinet” of Annette’s friends. Views were put aside in favor
of the shared identity of Americans. This transcendent purpose, honored
by participants and public alike, remained the hallmark throughout.
“In its first year alone, we twice extended the closing
date for the exhibition, and we were honored to do so yet again,”
explained Women’s Memorial President, General Wilma Vaught. But
Faces of the Fallen was not designed as a permanent exhibition, and there
are other demands on the Arlington National Cemetery space, notably WIMSA’s
tenth anniversary in November. Accordingly, a team from the Department
of Veterans’ Affairs dismantled the exhibition in June, following
ceremonies addressed by General Peter Pace in his last public appearance
before the White House announced his termination as Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs.
“Together, in that beautiful place, we created a community of
support and belonging,” Polan concluded. “Understanding that,
although grief changes over time, it does last forever.” –
Ruth Riddick
Faces of the Fallen continues on the web: www.facesofthefallen.org.
Ruth Riddick served as executive director of Faces of the Fallen. She
has written extensively for The Irish Times, Mainebiz and Conscience.
Her poetry has been published by Café Review, and a collection,
Paying the Rent, is available on CD. |
