Being chosen to depict the returning Vietnam soldier has been an immense and humbling privilege. These young men faced profound difficulties upon returning to civilian life. In an era when mental health was often overlooked, issues like PTST, anxiety, and alienation compounded the sense of abandonment felt by many, expected to resume their lives as if unchanged by their experiences.
I endeavored to convey the “invisible wounds” of war with an expression of tension and angst in this young man’s face and hands. From most angles, he remains obscured: a symbol of anonymity and disregarded struggles. Approaching the sculpture face-to-face, as if looking into a mirror, invites a moment of true acknowledgement, interaction, reflection and empathy.
