Startling and Powerful Installation

Came across this post today at My Modern Met

Chilean-born new york based artist sebastian errazuriz is exhibiting ‘american kills,’ a public installation showcasing the suicide rates of US soldiers compared with the stats of those who perished in combat. The toll of war is far greater than we can imagine. For all sides involved. I think of my friends and all those overseas in service and pray for their return in a not-so-distant-future time of peace.

‘when I first found the overall statistics summed the 304 suicides by US soldiers during 2009, I was shocked. I tried to find a number to compare that statistic. to my surprise the suicide statistic doubled the total of 149 US soldiers that had died in the iraq war during 2009 and equaled the number of soldiers killed in afghanistan.’ - SR

‘the counting of dead soldiers outside my studio was long and surprisingly eerie; it was hard to forget that every brush stroke was a soldier who had died the previous year. a lot of people stopped to read the mural and were immediately impressed by the reality portrayed. most of them seemed quite shocked and approached me to ask if what I was
painting was real. I tried to explain that I simply wished to create a physical image that could capture people’s imagination, creating awareness of the current numbers in death, war and the infinite discrepancy between the resources and energies destined to fight and protect soldiers at war versus the energies invested in protecting their mental health
and stability.’- SR