(Community Matters) It’s always a treat returning to Amoul’s, our favorite restaurant in London – doubly when our friend Zeina is there, triple when her mom (Amoul) comes out of the kitchen to say hello. So, I guess today was quadruply lucky – Zeina took us to her mother’s & father’s home to see her brother’s latest work.
Jad Oakes
We’ve met Jad before, and Amoul has hung some of his and his grandfather’s masterful photography in the restaurant. Jad’s latest is The Fallen, photographs of soldiers lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s collected many images of soldiers who have died from each of the countries and created an image by overlaying each of the photos from that country. Because so many have died from the United States, he’s created an image by age of their death for US soldiers. The image in the photo is the overlay of 485 US 21 year olds. Jad’s published a run of only 12.
These are beyond striking. As you flip through the pages (white gloves required), you are able to see age, even some race – especially among the US pages. It’s an extraordinary memorial. We spent time talking about mediums for a wider sharing of the visual memorial. I choked up – it reminded me of the first time I saw hundreds of quilts on the mall.
Community Matters 