When Johnny Comes Marching Home

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Wood, bullet casings, mixed-media
Diorama 20″H x 27″W x 8″D, Clipboard 16″H x 9″W
The figurines in the diorama depict two young boys in front of the Washington Monument playing musical instruments. A flag suspended between the figurines displays the emblem of “Support Our Troops Bring them Home Now,” an organization founded by mothers and families of US soldiers.
The bullet casings embedded in concrete reference the Iraqi civilians killed by US soldiers, over 128,000 by 2004, and ammunition the US gave Israel and ‘bought back” due to ammunition shortage in Iraq. The flowered wallpapered in the upper portion of the diorama alludes to a waiting-room in a convalescent home. A wheel chair casts a repetitive shadow receding into the wallpaper.
Addendum: Between March 2003 and October 2006, 655,000 Iraqi civilians were killed by US military troops.-Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health