» Burden of Images

Burden of Images

Once upon a time, there was a Vogue Model.
She was beautiful. A fashion icon. An exquisite object of desire.

She took artist Man Ray as an early lover. He was a surrealist.
She became one too. She started taking photographs.

She had a particular way of seeing the world.

And she knew everyone. She was famous. When the war came,
she did not watch it from afar.

She became a war photographer. A correspondent for Vogue.

She followed soldiers, nurses. She was unafraid.

In the war, she found the annihilation of beauty. The image of the human animal capable of any degradation.

Victims and victimizers. SS guards.

Collaborators.

It all made its mark. She lost her love of the image. She lost her beauty.
She aged. There was depression. Alcohol. For the last 25 years of her life,
she is said to have regarded her photographs with contempt.

She seemed to leave much of her old self behind.

Her name was Lee Miller.

She turned to cooking. She became an excellent cook.

There is something to consider here.

The Lee Miller archives on the Web display a number of her photographs.
Several short essays about her work can be found online, including this one.]

Every Gun Made

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

(Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953)

The Warrior Poet!

So often artists don’t care about the world. But once in a great while, someone special arises that transfixes us with their art, their heart and their soaring vision.

That someone is Kid Rock. Brilliant writer, singer, patriot, poet, his latest masterwork is for the American National Guard. It may quite possible be the most powerful work of art in all history.

Just watch the video. When he sings, “If you ain’t gonna fight, get out of the way. Cause freedom ain’t so free, when you breathe red, white and blue,” it’s impossible not to get chills.