"Her Voices"

Her Voices

2019
18" x 24"
Burned and Stained Wood Panel

This piece was created out of a solitary wooden panel, then burned and stained, so as to ultimately contain the last names and dates of death for each of the 149 female Soldiers killed in action as part of the US War on Terror which includes OIF, OEF, and most recently Syria, that America has fought 2002-2019. I didn’t make this to say their deaths are or are not any more or less important than their male counterparts; however, Her Voices does want to confront and recognize that over 98% of the names burned into this patriotic surface are Soldiers killed in combat before our country "officially allowed" women to serve on the "front lines” in 2016. To be fair, we know women have been in, around, and fought on the front lines since war began, we just haven't allowed history to recognize this fact. Her Voices cries out into this void.