Peace cranes and war

Shannon Benine is a photographer whose main purpose for art is to help create a dialogue based on her work. Her photos and subject matters are politically charged and based around our current energy crisis. Past subjects included our nation’s necessity for foreign oil and the hardships faced by families caught in war. Her current project entitled 03.19.03, created in 2008, is made of “unfolded photograms of peace cranes” used to represent the number of causalities of the war in Iraq. What initially caught my attention to this instillation is the fact that she is using unfolded cranes to create the piece. I did a project in high school on folding cranes and as there is a tale that states that whoever folds 1,000 cranes would be granted a wish from a crane. In representing the casualties of war, the unfolded cranes were an appropriate choice as they are objects that can be used for peace and that could grant happiness. The fact that the cranes are unfolded is also interesting as they provoke images of “bullet holes” and “Islamic screens” as discussed in Benine’s synopsis of the piece. 03.19.03 stands as a memorial for those lost soldiers and as an outcry to our relaxed reception of this war.

You can see photos of her exhibit and the little synopsis of the piece by going to the website and clicking on “WORK” at the top left of your screen and then clicking on “2008” at the top. The seven small boxes at the top are links to the photos of the piece.