The hands in the photo are meant to display survivors reaching out for help, and each hand's location can refer to what help they are reaching for. The hands on the bottom are reaching for help out of the rubble, the hands in the middle of the piece (behind the Dresden city line) are reaching for help from the government, and the pair of hands at the top of the piece are reaching towards the heavens for help from God/a God-like figure. The figures looking down at the folks in the boat can be interpreted many ways: soldiers searching for survivors to save, soldiers searching for enemies to shoot, etc. The blood red sky is actually a picture of blood red water flipped upside down, to help convey a feeling as if the world has ended.
Although it is not noticeable in the photo, but some of the cut-outs are bent or folded in some way. The purposeful bending is meant to convey damage to survivors, whether it be bodily injury or damage to the mental health of a person. The text cluster that reads 'WHERE ARE BODIES THE' is meant to convey a sense of extreme panic that might be felt by a survivor. The text rectangles that read ' "What made this happen?" You ask every time' and 'because it must' can be interpreted as a conversation about war between either a mother and child, fellow soldier to soldier, etc. The upside down text to the top right corner can be interpreted as what commanders may have told their soldiers, what the government may have told their people, etc. etc. Overall, the nonsensicalness of all of the text used ties into the quote from Slaughterhouse Five, "It is so short and jumbled and jangled... because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre." You can see part of this quote written in red ink around the piece.
The process itself was jumbled and jangled. I spent quite a bit of time sourcing images to use, then going back and changing bits here and there before deciding on the final look of the piece. I'm glad the process was as jumbled as the piece though, because it better ties in with the message of the piece - that there truly is nothing intelligent to say about war. While there isn't anything really substantially good to say, it's definitely always better to stay away from glamorization of war. The article 'Memorial Day and How War Films Have Changed' discusses how during and after WWII, films have had an overall fanciful tone that demonstrated the romanticization and glamorization of war, until the Vietnam War happened. Author Mark Hughes discusses how "Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, though, there was a steady supply of adventurism and glamorization of war and those who go into battle. Where Eagles Dare, The Great Escape, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Dirty Dozen, The Guns of Navarone, The Longest Day, and many more famous films depicted an image of warfare and soldiering that retained honor and adventure even during the most difficult moments. ... But a sea change was waiting down the road, and it came in the form of Vietnam. ... Watching the war unfold in vivid imagery every evening on the news forever changed the perception of warfare in American society. As opposition to the war grew, reporting and imagery of the protests spread on the news as well, merging into a wave of protest across the country that steadily rose year after year. ... While the politics of the films differed, the changes in cinematic depictions of war and of soldiers is obvious whether or not we agree with the political sentiments being expressed. And whether conservative or liberal, left or right, the films still almost always tended to fit into the emerging template that viewed warfare from the perspective of the individual soldiers as imperfect human beings forced into situations containing moral uncertainties and traumas, all of which affected not only the soldiers but civilians and society as well."
I agree with this sentiment, though I would argue that a large amount of war films still romanticize soldiers, not directly through a portrayal of noble honorable soldiers, but rather indirectly through a dehumanization of the enemy. One such example of this is the movie American Sniper. Chris Kyle is displayed as a soldier who is clearly struggling with his role as a soldier, whether through his relationships outside the army or the condition of his psyche. However, his targets, the Iraqis, were not given the same depth and complexity as Kyle, and are often dehumanized as savages. This lack of depth denies them the right to even be considered victims, and erases their stories to fit Kyle's better.
